X29
by MrBunnySensei
Summary: A mysterious assassin infiltrates the Xavier Institute.
1. Assassination?

X-29

I do not own X-Men Evolution or any of the characters in this except X-29. I'm pretty sure Deadpool mentions an X-29 at some point in the comics, so hell I don't even really own him.

Something was wrong. Laura was doing her nightly rounds, as was usual when she had nightmares, when she felt it. She didn't know what, and looking at it logically she was being irrational, but she trusted her instincts as much as her brain and they were telling her something was off. She decided to go to Logan and ask him if he felt it too. She knew he was awake because nighttime prowls were one similarity between them. She found his scent almost immediately and was surprised at it. Had he been hiking? He smelled as if he had been spending time in a forest. She disregarded the thought as she entered the entrance hall. "Logan," She whispered as with his enhanced hearing he would respond. "X-23," she began scanning the shadows. That was not Logan's voice. She barely heard the sword whistling through the air as she raised her claws to block.

CLANG What was that? Logan begins running to the entrance hall and hears the sounds of metal clanging together. On his way there he stops to pound on a door and winces when his fist cracks it. "STRIPES, intruder get everybody up now. He continues running and the sight that greets him is not quite as surprising as it should be.

A young man in a black outfit with red eyes in the helmet was fighting Laura with a sword. _Hydra. Well, always knew they would be back._ The assassin kicks Laura in the stomach and while she's reeling slices her across the back. Logan roars in rage and begins running towards the assassin who turns around. _His mistake._ Sure enough Laura takes advantage of his distraction and stabs him through the left shoulder. The assassin twists and brings his elbow down on her forearm. Logan hears a sickening crunch and sees the bone come through Laura's skin. Logan lunges at the assassin who blocks one set of claws with his sword and dodges the other set. Laura stabs him through the right bicep with her working arm and he drops his sword. She jumps back and a ruby red blast knocks him across the room._ About damn time, slim. _Logan glances up and see's what must be most of the students watching from the second floor balcony.

The assassin grabs his sword and gets up slowly. The skin that was charred from the blast healing before their eyes._ Another mutant with a healing factor? This just keeps getting better._ "Kid, we don't have to do this. Put your sword down and we can all walk away." Logan's response is an elbow to the face that breaks his nose. "I know you can do better than this," the assassin taunts. The assassin pauses and looks down. Two bloody claws slice their way through the back of his leg, leaving him limping . Logan lunges at him and he blocks three claws with his sword and grabs the other set of claws with his bare hand. _He grabbed my claws? And only lost two fingers? Gotta be adamantium grafted to his skeleton._"Weapon X," Logan growls. The assassin brings his sword up and stabs Logan straight through the shoulder. _Adamantium sword too_. Logan grabs his arm and throws him into the wall.

_Least I picked correctly. They're as good as I'd hoped._ I look up in time to see X-23 lunging at me. _She's doing pretty good for someone who's supposed to be dead. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at finding out about another of their lies. _I try to block her attack but she slams my sword down before I can get it into position and then stabs me with her recently healed arm. _At least my leg healed._ I punch her in the chest hearing her ribcage crunch against my adamantium laced fist. I hear a roar and feel something tickle my chest. I look down and see three claws coming out of my stomach. _Can't feel the wounds anymore. I'm dying. _I bring my head back and slam it straight into his recently healed nose. _Hahaha_. I then jump forward, pulling myself off his claws. _Now THAT I felt._

_This guy's gotta be as tough as me or Laura to be fighting with these injuries. _ The assassin pulls something off his belt and throws it up to the second story balcony. Logan slices his throat while he's distracted and yells, "MOVE!" Jamie has three of his duplicates jump on the grenade to smother the explosion. The assassin starts running towards the exit but Laura blocks him. _The grenade never went off. What the hell? _I turn back to see the assassin roundhouse kick Laura a good ten feet. He jumps outside and rolls something inside the room. A white flash blinds me and I feel my eardrums burst from the bang. My eyes clear and Scott is trying to tell me something. My eardrums regenerate in time to hear "...and Charles stunned him. Bobby is bringing him inside now." _Good, because I got some questions for the kid._

_AN: Picture the assassins outfit as the same one X-23 was wearing during the episode X-23. Number two, I'm going to be pretending that unless an injury is pretty serious (like losing the lower half of his body(and maybe not even then)) that when the cut off part(s) regrow they will still be covered in adamantium. I'm not gonna be having 29 breaking two of his fingers punching something because those were the fingers that were cut off so they shouldn't be covered in adamantium anymore. When I say the 'entrance hall' I mean the front room of the mansion as depicted in the Evolution cartoon. Not sure what else to call it.  
_

_Am I boring you yet? Probably not if you're still reading this. Constructive criticism is very welcome as this is my first story so I need the help. And tell me your ideas as to where you want the story to go. If I like your idea I will use it and credit you as having come up with it._


	2. Explanation

The assassin was on a bed in the medical bay, sedated through an IV. He has short brown hair, pale skin, and a lean figure. Hank looks him over and says "No wounds. None at all. Kid's got a healing factor, Hank." Logan growled. "He needs to be killed," Laura stated. "He is from HYDRA. We need to end this threat now. No, Laura," Scott responded,"We don't kill prisoners unless we have no other choice." _Even if I think we should make an exception in this case_, he added mentally. _This one is just too dangerous. _

_I do not understand. There is a high chance he will come back at a later date, seeking revenge. The most logically sound course of action is to end the threat now. _Laura was jolted out of her thoughts as Scott began to speak. "Our only option at this point is to turn him in to SHIELD. They would just use him as a weapon," Ororo replied. "We have another option," Charles said quietly," I can remove his memories. All of his memories about everything they did to him, and replace them with artificial ones.

What are the risks?" Scott asked. "It will be difficult to suppress years of memories, and I will not be able to permanently remove them. They will be... dormant for a few months at most. He will remember the stronger memories if he notices something he associates with them, but he will not be able to understand them. This plan is not acceptable," Laura stated," this will give him the perfect opportunity to attack us again. I am hoping by the time he remembers that he will decide to stay with us." Charles admitted. "But even if he does not, I will be able to detect his thoughts anywhere at the Institute, so if he does decide to attack us I will know immediately."

Logan noticed that the others appeared to accept this and felt a surge of anger. "Chuck, you're kiddin' right? He tried to kill me and Laura, not to mention he woulda gone after the students next. The kid's a psychopath. Logan," Charles began," He deserves a chance. Laura did the same thing when she first arrived here, and now she is an ally. It's not the same thing," Logan argued,"She didn't hurt anybody and she was confused. Psycho over here tried to kill us. Logan, Charles is right," Scott interjected," For all we know they did the same thing to him they did to Laura.

_They're too willing to see the good in everyone_. _It's gonna be up to me and Laura to make sure this psychopath doesn't murder us all. _"Go ahead with your plan, Chuck, but when you wake up dead don't say I didn't warn ya. We're all agreed then?" Charles asked. After receiving nods from Storm and Hank, and a hesitant one from Scott he placed his hands on the boys temples.

_"Proceed with the experiment. But, sir, he's ten. The dogs will tear him apart. That's why there are others, isn't it? We need to make an example as to the price of failure. X-29 begin the exercise." A young boy entered the area wearing the same uniform as the assassin and armed with a combat knife. Four dogs were trapped behind a gate. The boy examined the dogs, then looked down at the knife. The gate was opened and the dogs sped out, barreling towards the boy. He raised the knife, looked at his arm coldly, and brought it down. There was a spray of blood and the he tossed a piece of flesh towards the dogs. It hit one in the shoulder and the dog immediately jumped on it and began eating it. The other dogs began tearing the first dog apart for the meal. The boy watched, analyzing the the situation.. As soon as all the dogs but one were dead he walked up and buried his knife between the dogs eyes._

Logan watched Charles frowning in concentration and when he stopped Logan asked,"What happened?" Charles explained his discovery. "Sounds like he did go through something similar to Laura," Scott said._ If I ever find this guy I'm gonna kill him myself. What kind of sick monster could do that to a kid? _"I'm going to try again," Charles sighed," This may take awhile."


	3. Initiation

AN: I know you people are reading this. (58 readers! hell yeah) But you seriously need to review. As stated before I need constructive criticism. Plus reviews give me incentive to update sooner.

Three days later.

I woke up with a pounding headache._ Where the hell am I? Last thing I remember is collapsing on the street. _I look around and see I'm in some kind of medical bay. _I hope they don't think I can pay for this. I haven't had enough money to pay for something like this in the past three years. _I take a deep breath...and my eyes start tearing up. The overwhelming scent of antiseptic makes my nose burn. "So you're finally awake? About time. You've been sleeping like the dead for the past three days." I look over to the speaker and see some guy wearing red sunglasses. "Where am I? The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. What the hell is that? It's a home for people like you. An orphanage? Well I'll just leave now then. God knows I've been kicked out of every single one I can find. Why's that?" Sunglasses asks. "I'm a mutant." I expected him to stop here and look at me like a freak. He just smiles and says,"This is a school for mutants. A school? A private school? I can't pay for this. I have no money. You don't need to pay, the profe-I'm gonna stop you right there. What's the catch? One simple injection and all this can be yours? Then the paper tomorrow reads body of boy found in river, horribly mutilated?" He laughed at that and responded," Sorry, no injections. Maybe you'll believe me if I let the professor explain."He left the room as I stripped out of the medical gown and put on a pair of dark grey sweats and a grey shirt. He came back in and motioned for me to follow him.

"So, what's your name?" He asked. I was leading him to where the professor was waiting. "Scott Summers. How about you? I...don't remember." _The professor didn't give him a name? _"In that case what do you want your name to be? Matthew. Why? 'For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return.'" _Holy shit. Does he remember? No, he can't. This is one creepy kid._ "Sounds great to me." We arrived at a huge oak door. "This is the professors office." I said. I knock and a voice says "Come in, Scott."

I entered after him to see an old man sitting in a wheelchair behind a desk, and an angry looking man standing next to him. _Hello Matthew. _"You're a telepath. Yes, I am. Damn. That must come in handy." The professor smiled and said, "Yes it does. I don't believe you've met Logan?" Logan gave a short growl but didn't otherwise respond. "...is he always like that? Usually, yes." Logan gave a much fiercer growl and left the room. "So Scott was saying something about a free school? Not free. You will not have to pay money, but you will have to do certain things. What things?" I said with a sinking feeling. _I knew this was too good to be true._ "You will have to attend the nearby high school, maintain at least a C average, and you will have to train with the X-Men. At this school mutants learn to control their powers and I expect you to respect the other students here. That's it? Yes. And for that I get a free room and meals every day? Yes. You've got a deal. School starts on Monday and you will need to have a last name for me by Friday. I'll have Bobby show you to your room." _Bobby?_ A minute later a tall boy with dirty-blond hair entered. "I would like you to show Matthew to his room. No problem professor. This way."

Two hours later and I was wondering how the professor could have given me all this for free. _There has to be a catch. Maybe there's a maniac with an axe waiting in the dining room._ But, as it turned out, there was not a maniac with an axe waiting in the dining room. There was, however, a girl dressed in black with brown hair. She turned to look as I entered and looking into her green eyes I got the feeling she was determining how best to kill me. Of course this just made me want to tease her. "See something you like? I do not trust you," she responded. "Hello to you too. It IS a lovely afternoon isn't it? Thanks for asking." She didn't appear to hear me and wandered off. "What's her problem? She's Logan's clone," Bobby explained. "And there are two things to remember about her; she has no sense of humor, and she can gut you like a fish. Damn. Bad combination for me." Bobby grinned at that and led me onto the grounds.

The minute I stepped onto the grounds I could smell it. _Fear._ "Why is everyone afraid? What do you mean? I can smell their fear. Oh, some nut attacked the mansion a couple days ago. He put up a pretty good fight and then ran. They're just worried he might come back. You don't seem afraid. Are you used to people assaulting your home? Actually, yeah. We get attacked by all kinds of things. Giant robots, crazy mutants, we even had an assassin attack once. Did the assassin kill anybody?" _Is he joking? I guess there was a catch after all._ "She knocked everybody unconscious and then ran away. She came back later and she lives here now."_ They have an assassin living with them? Definitely a catch._ "Who is she?" I asked, resolving to keep an eye on her. "She was the one in the kitchen."_ Well that would explain the look she gave me._ "The one you were teasing remember?"_ Oh shit. Out of all the people living here the first one I meet is an assassin with no sense of humor who I start making fun of? My luck is abysmal._ My thoughts must have shown on my face because Bobby quickly said,"Hey don't worry. Laura wouldn't attack you for no reason."

I didn't have any time to consider the thought because just then a furry blue thing appeared in a cloud of smoke and I reacted completely on instinct.

I brought my fist up underneath its chin, and my foot lashed out towards its chest. The kick never struck because in another cloud of smoke he disappeared and re-appeared ten feet away. "Ach mein gott! Vhat vas zat for?" He asked, rubbing his chin. I was staring at my hands._ What the hell was that? When did I even learn to do that?_ "I looked back up quickly. "I'm really sorry, I just acted on reflex._ Reflex? Yeah, right. Who attacks a person because they were startled? _Bobby laughed and said,"Don't worry about it Matt, Kurt's tough. He can take a punch. Ack, I can take a punch fine but that... felt like you had metal hands." _Metal hands? Maybe that punch did more damage than I thought. _"No metal hands here." I held them up. He looked at them suspiciously before dismissing the incident with a wave. "It's no problem. Just don't make a habit of it. You need to meet ze rest of ze students."


	4. The chapter without a name

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Cloudy-TheNightMareQueen, my first reviewer. Because of her you all get a chapter early. So be thankful.

He led me back inside and into a dark room with a huge tv on one wall. He picked up the remote and turned the tv off. The half-dozen people in the room looked up in irritation. "Everyone, this is Matthew. Matthew this is Kitty, Rogue, Scott, Jean, Tabitha, Jamie, and Laura." They all nodded and greeted me except Laura. She just watched me. "There are others running around the mansion, but we don't need to introduce you to all of them yet."

Jean was watching the assassin curiously. He didn't appear to remember anything yet. _"Kurt, did he do anything suspicious? When I teleported next to him," Kurt replied mentally, "he nearly put me on the ground in two seconds flat. He didn't appear to know what he was doing though because afterwards he looked pretty confused." Not really surprising. There is no way to suppress instincts. And he appears to be largely guided by them._ "You ok, Jean?" I looked up and realized Bobby was looking at me. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just haven't been getting enough sleep lately." He looked at me for a second and then appeared to accept the lie.

_She just lied to Bobby._ I didn't know how I knew, I just knew with absolute certainty that she had just told Bobby a lie. I turned my attention back to the room in time to see the hairy, angry man who was about six inches shorter than me walk in. "Okay kids, break time's over. Danger Room session in fifteen minutes." They all groaned. "We gotta see what the new kid can do." He left. "Bad luck, Matt." Bobby groaned. "First day and a DR session already? What's a DR session?" I asked. "A trip straight to hell." Tabitha promptly replied. I started laughing and then stopped when I noticed they all looked serious. "It's really that bad? When Logan is the teacher, yes," Bobby groaned. "Well come I gotta show you where everything is." He added.

Fifteen minutes later I was suited up in this horrible black and yellow suit and standing with the others in the middle of an empty room, below and observation room. "Ok, we're gonna go easy because of the new meat here." Logan growled. "All you guys gotta do is run the course without getting hit. Fail and you gotta do it again." As I was about to ask "What course?" the room changed into a forest. The course was a marked trail along the side of a creek bed leading to a flag. As we all began running towards the flag gun turrets came out of nowhere and began shooting bullets, lasers, and buzz saws at us. I saw one hit Tabitha and it went straight through her and a buzzer sounded. She groaned and went back to the start. We were all hit at least once except Laura. She ran straight through everything without being touched. The second time I ran the course something curious happened. I could see the projectiles but I could almost _feel_ the way to run where I wouldn't be hit by any of them. I managed to make it on my second try, putting me in second place. We waited for the others to finish the course. Scott and Bobby made it next. They were each hit twice.

"How the hell did you do that?" Bobby demanded. "Do what?" I asked, honestly not sure what he meant. "The first time you ran it, you looked like the rest of us. Trying to dodge everything and not having much luck. The second time though... you looked like Laura. You dodged everything out there as if you'd been doing it all your life. I have no clue what you mean." Scott looked at me suspiciously and I thought about Bobby's question._ How did I do that? Must have been my reflexes from living on the streets. When humans with bats come after you, you have to be good at running and dodging to survive. _That answer seemed acceptable, but at the same time didn't really seem to fit. "Just got lucky I suppose." I looked up and noticed that Jamie was the only one still on the course. He was having no luck and getting hit almost immediately. Then, all of a sudden he seemed to split and there were six Jamie's running the course. The other five ran around the one in the center so he couldn't be hit. He got to the finish line laughing and Bobby said, "That's Jamie's power. Kid, what the hell are you doing?" Logan roared. Jamie stopped laughing and looked up at the observation bay fearfully. "I'm gonna let that go this time because I don't want you holding everybody else up, but you and me are gonna be working on this course every day for the next week." Jamie groaned and Logan began the final part of the session. "Last part, you guys are gonna be doing some one on one sparring. No powers, and no serious damage. Stripes and Slim, Half-pint and Jamie, Psycho and Bobby. Laura give em tips." _Psycho? What the hell?_ Bobby was cracking up. "Psycho?" he said between laughs. "You won't be laughing when I'm through with you." I growled playfully. "Get over here and lets start."

I stopped laughing after a minute and moved to stand opposite him. _Let's see how good he is. _"Well, let's go Psycho." I said with a grin. He just stood there looking confused as I started circling him. Deciding I wouldn't go too hard on him I moved forward and threw a punch at his chest. He jumped to the left, grabbed my outstretched arm and threw me a good five feet. "What the hell?" I heard him say quietly. He was looking at his hands. _If he can do that no way am I going easy on him. _I moved to take advantage of his distraction and threw a punch at the back of his head. _"_SHIT," I yelled when my hand made contact. He went down hard but it felt like I had punched a steel wall. "Psycho, Bobby, what the hell are you two doing?" Logan barked. "There's no way I can fight him Logan. His head feels like it's made of metal. Laura, switch with Bobby. Bobby get up here. I'm gonna have Hank take a look at your hand.

_Did he just say Laura? Sure I got in a lucky hit against Bobby, but there's no way in hell I can fight a trained assassin. _Laura stood opposite to me and looking at her face I had the odd feeling that I was about to be repaid for my teasing.

Moar A/N: CLIFFHANGER DUN DUN DUN But seriously. Review.


	5. The Initiation Process

A/N: This one is also dedicated to Cloudy-TheNightMareQueen for being my first and only reviewer. The story is pretty light-hearted and fun right now, but trust me, it gets DARK later.

I thought about the day as I prepared to go to sleep. Sure enough, Laura had utterly destroyed me. I didn't get a single hit in and if I didn't have a healing factor I would have been in too much pain to move. I had spent the rest of the day watching movies, talking, and fooling around with the other students. _This isn't a bad place..._ was my last conscious thought.

_"Congratulations X-29. You have completed the training." I was in tank of fluid with needles all over my body. "Begin the procedure." I sat there wondering what he meant. Nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden I was in the most excruciating pain imaginable. I tried to scream but no sound came out. _

"Hey, come on you're fine, wake up." My eyes shot open to see Bobby leaning over me looking worried. _What the hell was that? X-29? What the fuck is happening to me?_ "Bobby, I'm fine. Just a nightmare." He laughed mirthlessly. "Just a nightmare? You were crying and making a horrible noise. It sounded like you were dying." Before I could come up with a lie Logan and Laura burst into the room. "What the hell are you two doing in here?" Logan growled. "It sounded like somebody was being murdered. Just a nightmare." I mumbled. "Well next time keep it to yourself ok, kid? That's why you're such a great guy Logan. You're so understanding." I deadpanned. Logan just growled and walked out with Laura right behind him. I turned to Bobby to see him grinning. "First Laura and now Logan? You really do have a death wish. They can butcher me in the morning. I'm gonna sleep now." Bobby looked worried but didn't say anything. I drifted off to sleep which was thankfully free of nightmares.

The rest of the week passed in the same way. We had DR sessions every other morning. I excelled at hand-to-hand combat, beating everyone except Rogue and Laura. Due to my lack of any power other than healing, I was horrible when powers were allowed in sparring. My healing seemed to make Laura think I didn't feel pain. She had just finished destroying me in a hand-to-hand combat session and I was lying on the ground cupping my dislocated shoulder. "Goddamn this hurts. You know we're just training right? No need to take it so -ahhhh- seriously. I do not see the problem. Your shoulder has already healed. I heal fine. Problem is it hurts like a bitch until I've healed. Wouldn't you rather suffer some discomfort now then be killed in battle because you lacked the proper training?" Before I could ask her how exactly a dislocated shoulder would help me during battle Logan yelled at us over the intercom. "Psycho, Squirt, what the hell are you two doing? Get back to training before I assign you both extra DR sessions."

August 28th came all too soon. I woke up that morning to my beeping alarm. I threw on black pants and a dark green shirt then rushed downstairs. Everyone else seemed to be in similar states of disarray with the exceptions of Scott and Jean who appeared to be perfectly ready. As everyone rushed about the kitchen grabbing cereal or PopTarts, Scott informed us we had exactly two minutes to get into the car or we would be walking. Kurt laughed as we all scrambled to get ready. "What's so funny fuzzball?" I snapped as I began trying to stuff everything I could grab into my backpack. "Vhy in such a rush, Matt?" He asked as he began teleporting around to grab all his stuff. By some miracle I wasn't the last one in the car. Kitty phased straight through the door seconds after me and fell into the seat between me and Kurt. As soon she began grabbing for her seatbelt Scott threw the car into reverse and began the drive to school. On the way there Kitty and Kurt began the briefing on how to survive at Bayville High. "Rule number vun: Principal Kelly hates mutants," Kurt began. "Totally. Just, like, don't use your powers and try to stay away from him." Kitty added. "Two: any mischief at all will always be blamed on us. No exceptions." Everything after that was pretty standard. No fighting, no drugs, etc. We arrived at the school with two minutes to spare and as I ran off to my math class Bobby called, "Good luck. You'll need it." And on that cheery note I began my first day at Bayville High.

My first two periods (math and history) went fine. I ran into the first anti-mutant teacher in my third period, English. The look the teacher gave me upon entering was enough to arouse my suspicions. Sure enough, during the class she kept glaring at me. Thankfully she didn't do anything besides glare. My fourth period was gym which, after Wolverine's training from hell, felt like a nice walk along the beach. After gym we had 45 minutes for lunch.

I was sitting at a table with the other Institute students when they came over. Four huge guys wearing the uniform for the football team sneered at us and asked. "Well, looks like we got a new mutie this year. Hey, mutie, I don't think we put you through the initiation process yet."_ This is gonna be fun._ "What're your powers, mutie? My powers give me the ability to be witty, clever, and good-looking all at the same time." My friends began laughing at this and the jock and his friends began cracking their knuckles. "Looks like we got a mouthy one boys. Why don't we put him through the mutie initiation process? Sorry buddy I don't swing that way." This seemed to really piss him off and just made my friends laugh harder. "What the fuck did you just say freak? Hey, come on man, I don't mean to be insulting to Adrian, Antonio, and Jorge over here but the matching uniforms were kind of a dead giveaway. I mean, I'm sure they enjoy going through your 'initiation process' with you under the bleachers, but I'm straight dude. So thanks, but no thanks." My friends were crying with laughter at this point and the jock was ready to punch me in the face. So I let him. WHAM My head snapped backwards. I was on the ground, and I heard gasping and screaming. _Man can he throw a punch._ I got up off the floor painfully to see the jock cradling his wrist. It was bent at an unnatural angle and he was yelling in pain. My head had already healed so I was just grinning at him. He looked at me, screamed "FREAK!" and ran off with his friends close behind. Kurt and Kitty were laughing, Rogue looked grumpy as usual, and Scott looked at me. I had the irritating feeling he was about to berate me, and was not disappointed. "What the hell are you doing? You broke the guy's hand. I'm sorry, but what was I supposed to do? Grab a matching uniform and get ready for the 'initiation process'? Seriously, though," I added at the look he gave me, "I'm not just going to let them beat the hell out of me whenever they want. Considering what I could have done to them I think they were lucky to get off with just a broken wrist." Scott looked like he was about to argue but Jean interrupted him. "Guys, come on. just drop it. Sure he didn't make the best choice, but he did show restraint." Scott looked like he disagreed _-or just doesn't like people arguing with him-_ but he let it go.

My final two periods, science and computer programming, passed without incident. I exited my sixth period classroom and walked back to my locker. Kurt was busy stuffing his books back into the locker next to mine. "Do people usually treat mutants like that?" I asked. He sighed and responded, "Some of zem do. Most restrict zemselves to angry glances or muttered insults, but zere are some who try to hurt us." _Well that's pretty depressing._

We walked back to Scott's car and piled in in time to hear Kitty squealing something about a guy named Lance sharing sixth period with her. "Who's Lance? A member of ze Brotherhood." Kurt responded immediately. Kitty glared at him. "What's the Brotherhood?" I asked. Everyone in the car immediately turned and stared at me incredulously. "You're serious?" Kurt asked. "Yeah... Oh, vow. Someone should have explained zis to you. Ze Brotherhood is a gang of mutants. Zey like to cause trouble and especially enjoy messing with us. Are they an actual threat? Vell, now zat you mention it, not really. Zey're more of a joke zan a threat most of ze time. Most of the time? Zey actually managed to beat us and tear up a mall vunce. But zat's zeir only success." _Only one victory? But they keep trying? Are they stupid? Or just pathetic?_ "So Kitty is dating a member of the faction that's constantly attacking you..." Kitty began glaring. "He's not like, bad you guys just won't give him a chance. They won't give the guy assaulting them a chance... shocker." Kurt tried to hide his smile and I swear Kitty began smoking at the ears. "God, like, I'd thought you'd be more understanding. He does this stuff because he didn't like, have a home for years. Like someone we know..." She said, looking at me. "You think that's an excuse? I never attacked anyone. Especially not people who showed me kindness," I snapped. Kitty looked shocked at my harsh reply. It seemed to make Kurt uneasy too. _Why does the thought of my not having a home piss me off? No, it's not that. It's the thought of living on the streets for those years... _We arrived at the mansion and I left to start my homework. What kind of sick person assigns an essay on the first day?

More A/N: What kind of sick person DOES assign a three page paper on the first day? My English teacher did that to me. So far, he hasn't gotten any better.


	6. It gets darker

A/N: This one is also dedicated to Cloudy-TheNightMareQueen because nobody else has reviewed yet. Who knows, maybe I'll dedicate it to someone else if I get another review. (hint hint)

_"You're a weapon. Why would someone be given these if not to kill?" I looked at my hands. They began changing before my eyes. Two pieces of bone sliced their way through the tissue between my knuckles. I looked at the blood dripping down my hands and..._ Was woken up by Bobby's exclamation. "What the hell man? It's the middle of the night," I grumbled throwing off my covers. As I was lifting the covers off I felt a sharp pain in my leg and saw a spray of blood. I jumped up, looking at the bed. _What the hell?_ _Nothing in the bed._ "Dude, look at your hands," Bobby whispered in shock. I looked down. They looked like they had in my dream, only instead of bone they were a sharp, silver metal. _"_What the fuck?" _Are these dreams real? What the fuck is happening to me?_ Bobby was staring at me. "What the hell are you yelling about?" Logan growled entering the room. And then he noticed my hands. He snarled and raised his hands, claws extended. It's just proof of how out of it I was that I didn't immediately try to get him to put those away. "What the hell do you know! These look like yours! What the fuck is happening to me?" At this point I could hear the other students gathering outside our door, but I was too panicked to care. "You know something! There's no way three people can get the same goddamn mutation by chance when I've NEVER seen two people with the same one! SHUT UP!" Logan roared, shocking the hell out of me. He made a visible effort to calm himself. "Kid, I don't know any more about this shit than you do, so instead of yelling your head off at me and waking everybody else up, why don't we go have a talk with the professor?" _I don't give a shit about everyone else. They lose a few hours of sleep? I'VE GOT METAL CLAWS GROWING OUT OF MY GODDAMN HANDS. _Of course I didn't say that. I don't have a death wish. "Fine," I hissed. "Everybody get back to bed," Logan snarled as we exited the room. When I entered the hallway I could hear their shocked whispers at seeing my hands. I growled under my breath and followed Logan to the professors office.

_"Come in Logan, Matthew." I've been living here for years but I'm never gonna get used to that. _I glance at the scared kid following me, my thoughts whirling. _He had claws? The entire time? Why didn't he use them in that fight? _I look at Charles' face when the kid enters the room. _He doesn't look surprised. And he didn't mention the damn kid had claws? _I think back to that night...

_He looked up suddenly, gasping. "What the hell happened this time, Chuck?" I demand. "I can't go through all his memories. It would take weeks." He gasps. "What's the problem? His memories... all of them are tinged with hatred. Hatred so strong feeling it makes me sick." Not really surpising if they did something comparable to what Laura went through. "So what did you see? He went through training similar to Laura's. HYDRA was responsible for this too." That company never ceases to piss me off. "How did he get free? He waited. For eight years he waited. Then one night, one of his... handlers was careless. They left him a way out. He escaped. Killed everyone in the facility. But he didn't stop there. Using the files he obtained from the facility's computer he hunted down every other HYDRA base in North America." He killed the entire HYDRA organization by himself? Then how did we put him down so easily? "And he killed em all, right Chuck?" I noticed the looks of horror on everyone's faces, save Laura and Charles. "He did. Then why attack us? What did we do to him?" Charles shook his head. "All I saw before the hatred distracted me was a file on Weapon X. Presumably, he meant to kill you so no one else could copy HYDRA's work." The kid had guts. Too bad he was wrong. "If going into his head hurts you professor..." I began. "Maybe we should just cut right to the erasing his memories part. We saw the important ones. I agree," Scott said. I looked at him in mock suprise. "Save it Logan. We don't need to know his entire past. Just the important parts. You guys agree?" The others nodded. "Looks like this is it professor." Charles nodded, and bowed his head in concentration._

"Professor," the kid began, "How is this possible?" He raised a bleeding hand. "Sometimes mutations appear after puberty. It is not unheard of." The kid laughed mirthlessly. "Really? Huh, I haven't heard any of the other students talking about claws growing out of their hands suddenly. In fact, I can only name two other mutants with these claws. How bout you don't talk to Chuck like that, bub? He's trying to help you and you're mocking him?" He looked at me and for a second I almost went for his throat right there. The look in his eyes was downright murderous. Then his brows furrowed in confusion."I'm sorry professor it's just... this night has been really unnerving so far. I didn't mean to be rude. Apology accepted Matthew. Professor, why do all three of us have the same mutations? Are we... related somehow? Or is it just pure chance?" The professor sighed. "I can't say. It seems very unlikely that all three of you develop the same mutation, but as we don't have any evidence of a relationship..." _He's buying it. Good. _"Then professor, I have one more question. In my dream, these claws were bone. Was that just a dream? What exactly happened in this dream? I dreamt that someone was talking to me... something about me being a weapon and when I looked at my hands these claws were there only they were bone." _He's remembering. _"Well, worrying as that dream is, it appears to be just a dream. Logan and Laura have both had metal claws for as long as I can remember." He looked uneasy but didn't argue. "Thanks professor. I think I'll just go back to bed then. School tomorrow. Good night Matthew."

I turned to leave as well but the professor stopped me. "Logan, may I have a word?" Grumbling I stalked back to his desk. Thankfully, he wasted no time getting to the point. "He's remembering faster than he should be. I believe his healing factor is helping his mind to recover more quickly." _Just great. God forbid something goes right in this place for once._ "How long do we have Chuck? This just a guess, but at most? A week. So we're gonna have to be very careful around him."_ Good thing about Laura being here. I can just make her watch him. _Laughing at the thought I walked out, leaving behind a bemused Charles Xavier.


	7. The Danger Room

A/N: This one is dedicated to wolverine15120 for being the second reviewer. Yeah not dedicating any chapters after this one. It makes the ones I did dedicate moar speshul. I'll probably have another chapter up in a couple hours.

The next day...

Everything felt... wrong. _And it's not just the fact I couldn't sleep last night. _As I walked through the mansion to the Danger Room I felt as if I was going to be attacked. _You're being ridiculous. You've lived here for the past three weeks. _But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was in hostile territory. At least I could retract my claws now. I figured out last night that if I clenched my hand I could retract them. Logan told me with practice I could extend and retract them without moving my hand, but for now I had to clench. After the shock of growing extra body parts wore off they were pretty cool. Even if they sliced my hands open every time they came out.

I entered the DR to see Logan waiting, looking grumpy. _Real shocker. _"Psycho, get your ass over here. You're gonna be put through a training exercise to see how well you handle those claws. And what they can cut through." _At least it's not hand-to-hand combat training._ I had gotten better. Nowhere near as good as Laura who kept beating the hell out of me, but I could usually beat Rogue now.

I stood in the DR waiting for Logan to start the session. I looked up at the observation bay to see most of my friends watching. _Beautiful. An audience for my murder. _"Beginning session," the robotic female voice of the danger room announced. Two silver robots walked out with a laser cannon on each arm. I began running towards them extending my claws as I ran. They started firing at me and I dodged most of the blasts. Their lasers were simulated so each hit only resulted in an unpleasant stinging sensation and a few points taken off. As soon as I came in range I brought one pair of claws up in an uppercut that sliced straightthrough the robots head. _I barely felt any resistance. Whatever these claws are made of it's sharp as hell. _I turned to the other one in time to dodge a blast aimed at my chest. I swept my left hand up taking its arm cannon off at the elbow. Before it could bring its other cannon to bear I swept my claws across its chest slicing through and leaving a huge X. And suddenly I wasn't in the DR anymore.

_"Begin the bonding process." I was back in the tank filled with green fluid, hooked up to IV's and monitors. "This is your final mission. Your objective is to survive." And then the pain began. Worse pain than anything I have ever felt, or will feel. Pain so intense it blasted every thought from my brain. I couldn't even scream through the oxygen mask. _

"Psycho what the hell are you doing?" Logan's irritated roar snapped me out of my..._ vision? memory? What the hell was that?_ "Sorry Logan. Just a little tired." I heard Logan growl over the intercom. "Bobby, Tabitha, Laura get down there. We're starting a team building exercise." After they had joined me on the DR floor Logan explained the exercise. "There's gonna be a giant robot called a Sentinel. Your job is to take it out without getting killed. Anyone gets hit by something that would kill you, simulation ends and you lose. First group is Iceman, Talon, Boom-Boom, and Psycho. Get to it." The DR immediately changed into what appeared to be a battle zone. Destroyed trucks, tanks, and helicopters littered the area, which looked like a destroyed city block. Then, a chilling metallic voice announced, "Mutants detected. Eliminate." I looked up to see a robot that was at least thirty feet tall with glowing yellow eyes. It raised its hands and began shooting red beams that blasted chunks out of whatever they hit. We all sprinted for the nearest building. A near miss shot chunks of rock into the air, one of which went straight into my back. It knocked the wind out of me and slammed me to the ground. I instinctively rolled to the left, got up, and began running again. Bobby peered around the side of the building and shot a stream of ice behind me. Judging by the blast and chunks of ice that shot everywhere, it was a good idea. I made it behind the building with the rest of them and tried to catch my breath. "So what's the plan?" I wheezed. They all looked at each other, and then back at me. _You're kidding me right?_ But we didn't have time to argue. "Ok then, here's what we're gonna do. Iceman, skate around on that ice-ramp thing you do and hit it with ice blasts. But keep your distance. Boom-Boom, get on top of this building and hit it with explosives when it's focused on Iceman. I'm going to try and get behind it and go for its legs. Talon, when I've taken out one of its legs I want you to get on top of it and slice its head off. You guys got it?" They nodded. "Then lets go."

Iceman and Boom-Boom were doing their part. I was waiting for an opportunity to attack. _There!_ A particularly well-aimed explosive courtesy of Boom-Boom had sent it reeling backwards. I sprinted straight at it, aware that any hesitation would get me killed. I arrived at its leg without being detected and sunk my claws up to my knuckles into its leg and began to climb. It certainly noticed this if the hand flailing around me was any indication. I managed to get up to where the leg met the torso. It was thinner than the rest of leg. Taking a deep breath I removed two claws from its leg and cut halfway through the joint. I began a second swing thinking, _This wasn't so ha-_CRUNCH. I flew for a long time and landed in a heap staring at the sky. _The sky is so beautiful. Even when the sun is blocked by clouds it looks so nice. Wasn't I supposed to be doing something...?_ _Shit. Sentinel. _ I got to my feet painfully in time to see the sentinel's injured leg collapse under it. Laura leapt from a nearby rooftop, claws extended, and landed on its shoulder. She wasted no time and cut through its neck with one powerful swing. "Simulation ended." Logan began berating us almost immediately. "Tabitha, I've seen the explosions you can make. Those were pathetic. Popsicle, try freezing its eyes next time. Psycho, nice plan, but you're lucky you're tough or that sentinel swatting you would have killed you. Laura, Psycho's plan wasn't bad but you should have taken charge out there, you have the most combat experience. Overall that was sloppy work. I expect better next time. Typical Logan," Bobby whispered as we were leaving the DR. "Letting us know he cares." Tabitha giggled at that and I couldn't help but crack a smile.


	8. The Epic Chapter

A/N: Here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for.

Three days later...

_What the hell is happening to me? What do these dreams MEAN? _I had been having worse and worse dreams over the past three days. _It's gotten so bad I can't even sleep anymore. What the hell is wrong with me?_ I was walking around the mansion. The feeling of being in hostile territory had grown stronger, so much that I couldn't let my guard down. Combined with the nightmares I had started sleeping only an hour or two every night. It was really wearing on me. My friends noticed I was tired and kept asking me what was wrong. "Nightmares," I told them. And it wasn't even a total lie. On one hand they were nightmares. On the other, most nightmares don't have you screaming and whimpering in your sleep, only for you to wake up sweating and terrified. So I had taken to wandering the mansion at night. Sometimes I passed Logan or Laura who seemed to have trouble sleeping as well. It didn't escape my notice that the three of us with the same mutation had the same habits as well. _This is driving me insane. _I knew there was a connection between us. No matter how much they denied it I could _smell _their lies. Logan's at least. Laura was _very _good at lying. So here I was wandering the mansion, killing time until it was time for school again. _This is ridiculous. I can't do anything without sleep. May as well try._ So I headed back to my room and laid down on my bed. Sure enough, I couldn't sleep. I stared at the ceiling for four hours, when it was time to prepare for school.

One day later...

_He looks like hell._ I was in the kitchen eating a late dinner when Matthew walked in. We all knew he'd been having nightmares. _We can hear them half the time. _But he looked really bad. His face was gaunt, his skin looked pasty, and he looked exhausted. He nodded to me as he walked past and sat down with a turkey sandwich. "You look like you need some sleep." He laughed harshly. "If I could sleep, believe me, I would. Why can't you? Nightmares, Scott. Then talk to the professor. Talk to someone. You're killing yourself." _The professor said he would be remembering everything very soon. It seems like whatever he's remembering is pretty gruesome._ He smiled but it seemed forced. "Thanks for trying to help Scott, but no thanks." _Stubborn kid._ I was wondering what the best way to persuade him was when he froze. The glass of milk he had been holding seemed to hit the floor in slow motion. Then he looked at me and said three words. "I remember _everything." _

As soon as I said the words Scott brought his hand up to his glasses.I upended the table and kicked it towards him. He blasted it to bits but didn't move in time to dodge the kick that slammed into his ribs and knocked him off his feet. _Pathetic. _I move to finish him and then stop. _They did not kill me when they had the chance. That should not affect my decision to end him. They showed weakness. I should take advantage of it. So what am I feeling? Unknown. Revise course of action. Attempt to leave without killing. Is this an error? Maybe. I will decide if I survive this. _I hear a shriek and look up. Kitty is standing at the top of the stairs with a look of horror."What are you doing? LOGAN MATTHEW WENT INSANE." _Logan. Shit. He can probably beat me in a fight. Now I need a hostage. _I pick up Scott and hold my fist to his temple. _What..? I can feel him? _Xavier was in my mind. I could feel it. _Get out or he dies. _His presence retreated. Logan sprints around the corner claws bared. "Take another step and he dies." The other mutants were arriving at this point. Kurt look scared. Jean looked pissed. "Anybody used their powers and he dies." Bobby ran into the room and yelled, "What the hell are you doing? Have you gone insane?" _They never told him? Illogical. _"They never told you who I was? What Xavier did to me? What the professor did to you? You mean give you a home? Give you food to eat? Xavier never told you?"_ Is he trying to get his students killed? _"No, I never told them," Xavier said, coming through the crowd of mutants at the top of the stairs. "I had hoped if you thought them innocent you wouldn't hurt them. So, Matthew. You have the hostage. We're powerless to stop you. What happens now? Now, you return my katana to me."He turned to Hank and nodded. Hank ran off. "Matthew, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem like a killer to me." I laugh at this. _This is the best he can do? _My laugh seems to enrage Wolverine who roars. And then I hear someone moving around behind me. They step towards me. I kick back without even looking and I hear bones breaking. I turn to see Rogue, lying on the ground cradling a broken leg. I look up to see the entire crowd of mutants moving towards me. I let one of my claws slide slowly towards Scott's temple and they freeze. "You don't seem to like Scott very much. I can remove him from the equation if you like." I hear outraged whispers and hisses. Hank enters the room with my katana in the sheath I brought it in. I motion him to bring it to me. I hear movement behind me. _Foolish girl. _I take a step back. And bring my booted foot down on her arms.. And then on her ribs. There is no noise now. They all stare at me, hatred etched onto their faces. I stare back coldly. _They think they know hatred? They don't know the meaning of the word. _Beast comes closer, face apparently calm. _He wants to rip me to shreds. Too bad I have his precious student at my mercy. _"Put it down there." He drops it and begins backing away. I move forward and pick it up. I draw it to make sure they didn't try and trick me. _They didn't damage my sword. Good. I would have had to kill this guy if they had. _"I'm going to leave now. I see anyone exit the mansion and Scott dies. No one has died yet. No one needs to." I nod my head towards Rogue. "She will be fine." I step back towards her. Their looks of hatred intensify. I bend down and touch one of my fingers to her forehead. _This feels...disturbing._ I watched my memories flash before my eyes and I felt drained.I removed my finger quickly. I turn back to see her broken leg look confused. They don't seem to want to murder me on the spot at least. I begin backing towards the gate. After what seems like an eternity, I reach it. I drop Scott on the ground and begin running. I laugh harshly. _Running away? I have nowhere to go. _

_That kid better be long gone. Or he'll wish he was dead. _Beast had Scott and Rogue on stretchers in the entrance of the mansion. They were both unconscious. Rogue from blood loss. Scott from the pain of two broken ribs. Hank had confirmed what the kid had said. _"She'll be fine Logan. She just needs to rest. All her wounds have already healed. His healing factor is even stronger than Laura's." _The students were standing around whispering to each other. Nothing like this had ever happened. They had never been betrayed by one of their own. _They're so young._ He had been betrayed before. But it still hurt. "Everyone," the professor began. "I believe you deserve an explanation." Everyone stopped whispering and looked to the professor. "Matthew was the assassin who attacked the mansion a month ago." To say they were shocked by this declaration was an understatement. "_What?_ How could you let him live here?" Jamie demanded. "Because, Jamie, my choices were limited to killing him, attempting to rehabilitate him, or let SHIELD use him as a weapon." This stopped most of the whispers. "I erased his memory. I gave him false memories so he wouldn't attempt to attack us. I wanted to give him a chance at redemption. It didn't fail." Shocked whispers at this. "How can you say it didn't fail?" Bobby asked. "He nearly killed Rogue and Scott. And that is exactly why it didn't fail." The professor said with a smile.

"According to his training, he should have killed every single one of us. And he left, without a single death. I am proud of him for that." The professors face hardened. "But we are the X-Men and it is our job to apprehend dangerous mutants. Which he is." The students smiled grimly at this. "But he was trained from birth to be a killer so I will send only the best of us." Their faces fell at that statement. "And we will have to wait until I can locate him with Cerebro. I will announce who will be on the team sent after him later. And a warning to all of you. If you ever see him by chance, or because you were sent after him, do not think of him as your classmate. This is not the same person. This person is a ruthless killer. I would like to say he might show restraint because we showed him kindness, but I doubt he will." _Yeah, because he showed so much restraint with Rogue. _Rogue woke up suddenly and began coughing. Everyone immediately gathered around her. She gripped her head and began speaking in her Southern drawl. "Oh, God, he's in my head. Stripes, calm down. _Now." _I place my hands on her shoulders and she stops shaking. "Everyone please go back to bed. Storm, Logan, Kurt, Kitty, Bobby, Jean, Tabitha, Laura, please stay," The professor said. Everyone walked out slowly except the ones he had pointed out. "I have already chosen all of you for the team that will be sent after him. I may choose others. If any of you feel you can't do this you can back out now. None of us will blame you." Nobody spoke. "Rogue, I know it's hard but please concentrate on his memories and tell us what he might do next. And why he did what he did." She appeared to be thinking for a second and then began speaking. "He has no idea what he's gonna do next. His only thoughts were to get out of here. Preferably without killing anyone." _Well that's no help._ "As for what he did..." She looked confused. "He had intended to kill Scott. And then he felt guilt. Only he didn't know what it was. He eventually decided not to kill him because we could have killed him but we didn't. He was wondering if what he was doing was a mistake. As for attacking the mansion... He wanted to kill Logan. He hated what they had done to him and wanted to stop it. For good. He figured if he killed the original it would make it much harder for them to make more. But then he saw Laura. He saw she was living a normal life and wondered if he could do the same. So he attempted to run and think about it. But the professor stopped him. Speaking of the professor stopping him, why didn't you?" Jean asked. "I couldn't." The professor said frankly. "His healing factor is even more powerful than Laura's." I growled at this. "It determined my knocking him unconscious as a threat. So when I tried to do it again it stopped me. How?" I demanded. _He shouldn't be able to do that. _"I'm not sure. When I attempted to shut his mind down it just didn't respond. I could hear his thoughts but when I did he could feel it. So I didn't dare try when he had Scott at his mercy." _Catching this kid is gonna be a much bigger problem than I thought. _"Continue, Rogue." She looked at the professor and spoke. "I didn't get many of his memories. He only touched me for a second. The last ones I got were right after he escaped HYDRA. About three months ago. First thing he did was hunt down the other HYDRA bases on the continent. He destroyed four of them. As far as he knows, that's all of them." _Least he did something useful. _"If that's all, I think we should get to bed." Ororo said. "The students must be tired and they have school tomorrow. Ororo I believe I can let them take the day off. After all, their classmates were attacked." The students smiled at the professors words. "Yeah, well you still got danger room sessions." My words wiped the smiles right off their faces. "Be there at 5am."


	9. Rebirth

A/N: Sorry for the slow update, my teachers are sadistic. If anyone actually lives near this area I apologize profusely for my (probable) butchery of the geography. I have never been to New York, and I only bothered to look at google maps for five minutes to decide this is where he is. I'm currently debating whether to name this Rebirth or Second Coming. I think I like Rebirth better but the chance to mock the cheesy name of the X-Men comic arc is very tempting. Don't worry about me not updating because I actually have another 20,000ish words worth of story. I space out the updates so I don't run out. You're all gonna hate me for the cliffhanger at the end of the chapter, but I'm taking after my teachers and becoming sadistic. **_I enjoy your pain. *evil laugh* _**

Somewhere in Elmont, three weeks later...

I walked the streets of the city, barely noticing the people walking past me. I hadn't seen the X-Men since my flight from the mansion. _It is likely they are hunting me. I do not want to have to kill them. _I had been living off whatever I could find since then. It wasn't hard. I could easily steal food and clothes due to my training. I kept two changes of clothes along with my katana in a duffel bag I carried around. I was used to sleeping on the ground from years of missions. _So why do I feel like this?_ I felt like my life was lacking purpose. _I had wanted to not have to follow their orders for years at HYDRA and now that I do not... I have no purpose. No mission._ Freedom wasn't all it's cracked up to be. At least I hadn't had to kill anyone. Even if I wanted to. _I hate them all. Humans did this to me. And humans should pay for this. But the people who did this to me are dead. Fortunately for them. _I wondered where I was going. I turned the corner and smelled Chinese food. _I enjoy consuming Chinese food. An irrational response. _But I walked into the alley behind the store and used one of my claws to cut through the lock anyway.

I listened for anybody behind the door. Not hearing anything, I entered. I was standing in a room full of refrigerators. I opened one and saw packages of rice and multiple flavors of chicken. Mouth watering, I began shoving packages into my duffel bag. In my zest I didn't notice the person enter the room behind me until he began yelling at me. "What the hell are you doing? Stealing from me? I'll show you what we do to thieves." He grabbed a knife from a counter near the door. I had to try hard not to laugh. He advanced on me with the knife and I just stood there. _Attack me. Fighting makes the kill more enjoyable. _He suddenly lunged at me and plunged the knife into my chest. _He missed all my vital organs. Is he honestly trying to kill me?_ He seemed surprised when I didn't immediately keel over. And he seemed horrified when I pulled the knife out and he watched my flesh knit back together. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU? GET AWAY FROM ME!"I extended the claws in my hands and he tried to run. I ran forward and sliced through the Achilles tendon on his left leg. He screamed and looked in horror as his leg flopped uselessly. He fell to the ground. I moved forward slowly, silently. He began to beg. "Please, take my money, take the food, just don't hurt me." _Too late, human. _I put two of my claws into his chest. I twisted them sideways ignoring his howl of pain and I ripped them out. He just laid there, bleeding and crying. _Pathetic human. But you don't deserve to suffer too much just because I hate your kind. _I put my claws through his head, killing him quickly. _But it does not make me feel better. The hatred is still there. Strong as ever. Maybe Xavier was right...? Is mercy a better way? I will attempt it. I can always elimate them if his way proves incorrect. _Si I picked up my bag and continued to steal.

Two hours later...

I was sitting at a table in a Starbucks drinking water. I felt tired and heavy after eating a full meal. I usually stole just enough so I didn't starve. I got to eat my fill today because the owner was dead. What use is food to a dead person? I looked at the television. "A group of members of the Friends of Humanity were arrested today for murder of a fourteen-year-old girl. Maya Harkness was killed as she was walking the two blocks to her house from school and was intercepted by the criminals. The Friends of Humanity had this to say to the police..." I stopped listening. _Humans? Killing mutants? They must be removed. I will need to make a visit to their headquarters in this city._

I exited the Starbucks and began walking back to a nearby school. I liked to sleep under the bleachers. People rarely bothered me and I could have all the nightmares I wanted. I was 16 so I could pass for a student if anyone asked why I was there. As I was walking I heard a gun cock. I listened intently and followed the sound to a nearby alley. A man was pointing a gun at a young woman and telling her to hand over her purse. "Give me the purse and I won't hurt you." I could smell the lie. Maybe that was it. Maybe I just felt sorry for her. Either way I walked into the alley and spoke bluntly. "Leave or die." He looked at me and laughed. He turned the gun around and fired. I felt the bullet impact my head and it snapped my head backwards. I raised my head back up and felt my healing factor push the bullet out. He stared at me, horrified and continued to fire. Four bullets hit me in the chest and one in the leg. I kept walking towards him and he tried to run. It was a dead end. I walked towards him, ignoring his pleading, grabbed his head in both hands, ignored his feeble attempts to fight me off, and twisted violently. I turned to the girl who stared at me, screamed and began running._ Showing mercy is merely intensifying my hatred. It is also causing an unknown feeling of satisfaction. Perhaps Xavier's way has merit. Insufficient data to form a conclusion. I will make another attempt after I have rested._

I exited the alley and continued walking to the school. Along the way I thought. _I need a purpose. A mission. I could not join the X-Men.. They distrust me now. I could join SHIELD. But then I would just be another weapon. This option is not acceptable. I will need to seek additional data. _I was at the school. I walked behind it and went to the bleachers. I shoved my duffel bag under one and laid down under the other. I stared at the underside of the bleachers until I fell asleep.

"I've found him." I started at Charles statement. "He's in Elmont. I've already told the rest of the team to meet us in the hangar." I stood and began walking to the hangar with Charles close behind. "Why'd it take so long Chuck?" Normally finding a mutant with Cerebro took a few days or a week. This one took three weeks. "His mind is hard to pinpoint while he is awake. It practically screams when he sleeps though." Logan grimaced. He knew the feeling all too well. "Since he only sleeps two or three hours every day it is extremely difficult to get a lock on him." _So he'll be tired. Good for us. _They entered the hangar to see the rest of the team waiting. Laura, himself, Kurt, Kitty, Bobby, Rogue, Tabitha, Storm, Jean, and Scott. _Huge team for a capture. Of course, with his training we need this many._ "He's at a school in Elmont. He's been sleeping for about two hours now. He will wake up at any moment. The trip will take ten minutes in the Blackbird. Get going. Time is short." We began boarding immediately. _Every second counts._


	10. The Chase

I woke up sweating and confused. Not the most pleasant awakening but it was pretty common for me. I didn't remember what I'd been dreaming about this time but I could feel fear and hatred._ Nearly anything then. _I grabbed my duffel bag and began walking away. As I was walking I noticed a much subtler sound. Almost like... something moving through the air. Quickly. And then I saw it. They disabled the cloaking as it landed. The Blackbird.I began running away from the school. And then I felt someone probing my mind. _Fucking telepath. GET OUT OF MY HEAD. _I screamed mentally. I put all my hatred into the thought. The telepath was forced out of my mind. _But now they know where I am. Shit._ I turned to the right and entered the city streets.

_Gotta get somewhere high. I can survive any fall. Some of them can't. _-whamf- A blue-furred demon was sitting on top of a building ahead of me. _Son of a bitch. They really want me dead. _I could hear him telling them my location through his headset. _Nowhere to run. The teleporter is faster. And they have a telepath. So I can't hide. That leaves fight. _I mentally plotted my route to the Friends of Humanity headquarters in this town and ran as fast as I could. I could see Kurt teleporting in front of me. I looked behind me and saw Laura running about two blocks back. Bobby was closer and closing quickly on his ice ramp. I turned to the building next to me and cut through the door. I ran to the stairwell and began climbing. I could hear them pounding up the stairs behind me. I pulled my katana out of the duffel bag and strapped it onto my back. I dropped the bag on the stairs. I burst through the door at the top of the stairs panting. Only to see Kurt waiting for me. "Stop Matt. You're outnumbered. Ve're faster. Ve have a telepath. You can't vin." He didn't seem to take me running away from him as a hint that I wasn't listening. Then again, he didn't need to run. -whamf- and he was ahead of me. He continued teleporting ahead of me and trying to persuade me to stop. I stopped at the edge of the building and looked behind me. Bobby and Laura were closing fast. I took a few steps back, ran and jumped. For one heart-stopping moment I was in free fall. Then I landed and rolled, years of training taking over. I continued running. Bobby just made a ramp of ice over the gap and him and Laura ran over it. _There. Good. I can't run much longer. _The Friends of Humanity headquarters was just down the street. And even better, according to the sign on the building, they were holding an assembly tonight. _Something finally went right. _I heard a whistling noise and jumped tothe left. A huge ball of ice flew past me. _Not lethal. Probably wouldn't even delay me more than a few seconds. _But a few seconds were all they needed to catch me. _I can't hold this pace. They're rested. I'm tired and the only full meal I had all week was the one I ate today. If I don't get there very soon I'm done. _I got to the end of the building and looked. There was no building close enough for me to jump to. I hesitated for only a second before jumping off. _Adamantium skeleton and healing factor. Four story fall. Shouldn't knock me unconscious. _I seemed to take forever to reach the ground. CRACK I landed on my left side. _Can't move my left leg. Feels dislocated. Most of the skin on my chest is gone. My skull impacting the pavement likely resulted in a concussion. No bones broken though. _I staggered to my feet and began limping towards the building. Years of HYDRA training had made me able to function through incredible pain. After a few steps my leg regenerated enough for me to run on it. My ribs still hurt like crazy though. I looked behind me. They were only twenty feet away. They had made another ice-ramp down the side of the building. Even better, Logan, Kitty, and Storm were right behind them. But it didn't matter. I burst into the FoH building and sprinted for the door to the auditorium. I kicked it down and the current speaker stopped mid-sentence. I put on my best expression of mindless fear and screamed, "THE MUTANTS ARE FOLLOWING ME! THEY WANT ME DEAD! PLEASE, GOD HELP ME!" All the while running towards the speaker. When the X-Men burst into the room people stood up and began cracking their knuckles. They apparently decided a sixteen year old boy who looked terrified out of his mind couldn't possibly be deceiving them. _Humans. Pathetic fools. But they have their uses. _As what seemed to be the entire auditorium rushed the mutants I smiled and ran to the back room. I cut through the door and began sprinting away.

_This kid is smart. He, a mutant, ran into the anti-mutant building, convinced them he was being attacked, and got the entire auditorium to fight for him. We're gonna need a bigger team. _And suddenly I didn't have time to think as a huge guy with a knife swiped at me. "Jean, get after him!" I fought down the urge to unsheathe my claws and begin cutting and punched a guy in the face.

I ran into the parking lot of an apartment complex and hopped into a blue minivan. I used my claws to hotwire the car and was about to drive off when a voice said _"Wait." _I stopped and looked outside thecar to see Jean waiting. I snarled and extended my claws and she held up both her hands. "I just _w_ant totalk." _She's not lying? _"Get in then. I'm not waiting for your friends to find me." She got into the backseat and didn't say anything as I gunned it and began driving away at a good 70mph. "So what do we have to talk about?" I snarled as I took a particularly sharp turn and nearly flipped the car. "About your options. What about my options?" I hissed. She didn't look particularly afraid. "At this point you're a wanted criminal. You can either come back with us or wait until SHIELD finds you." I began laughing. "I'm not sure how to respond to such a statement except with laughter. I slaughtered HYDRA and I'll slaughter SHIELD. Their funeral if they come after me." She leaned forward looking serious. "And that's the problem. You kill SHIELD and the X-Men stop trying to capture you and start trying to kill you. And you can't fight all of us." I smirked at this particular piece of information. "I can't fight all of you. I can kill most of you by the time you get me though." She shook her head. "More senseless death? And what would that solve? We're offering you a way out." _I may as well know all my options even if I never plan on acting on them._ "What happens to me if I go with you?" She sighed. "I'm not sure. The professor believes you can be redeemed. But the others disagree. I don't know." _So basically, I go with them hoping for forgiveness and they hand me over to SHIELD anyway. No way in hell. _"I'll think about it. Now get out of my car." I stopped and she left. I drove off. She didn't even attack me. _Why? I don't understand. _But I kept driving.

Back at the Xavier Institute...

"But Logan, if you had let me fight him I vould have caught him." Kurt had been pestering me nonstop about my orders that under no circumstances would he engage the target. "Elf, he woulda cut you up like a turkey. He's a match for me or Laura. You don't stand a chance." That shut him up. _Thank God. _Bobby and Laura had told me of how they'd almost caught him but he jumped. _Crazy kid. _And I wasn't sure whether I wanted to laugh or cry when I remember how he led us straight into the FoH. _About the FoH... Where was Jean?_ "Jean, where were you when we were fighting off the FoH?" She stopped her discussion with Scott and turned to me. Everyone stopped talking, wanting to know the answer. "I was talking to Matthew." _Wasn't expecting that. _And judging by everyone's expressions neither were they. "You better have a good reason for this Jean." She appeared to be thinking and then began her explanation. "When we first touched down, I searched for him mentally. When I found him he pushed me out. How the hell did he do that? He kind of... screamed at me mentally. It was enough to distract me and break the connection." That was troubling. Our best weapon against him up until know was telepathy. "So when I saw him running out of the FoH building I knew I couldn't shut him down with telepathy. Telekinetically, I could probably hold him for thirty seconds to a minute. Not nearly enough time for any of you to arrive. And if he broke out of my hold and I didn't have backup he would kill me. So, I decided to talk to him." _Pretty good reason. _"So what did you tell him? I told him that his options at this point were either to surrender to us or to SHIELD. If he didn't eventually one of us would capture or kill him. When I said that he laughed. He told me that he had destroyed HYDRA and he would destroy SHIELD if they came for him." _Scary thing is he probably can. _"Go on." I urged her. "He asked what would happen if he surrendered to us. I told him I didn't know. He didn't seemed surprised at that and told me to get out of his car. Then I came back to you guys." _At least he isn't trying to kill us. He just tried to run. _"It's good to know he isn't trying to kill us, but this doesn't change anything. He's still rogue and we still need to capture him. This time he got lucky. Next time he won't. He does not need to be lucky next time," Laura stated. "We have already lost the element of surprise. He will make preparations for our return." The other team members looked troubled by this. _And that's a scary thought. _"Squirt's right. He didn't want to fight us this time but next time he will. He knows he got lucky. He also knows we ain't gonna stop." Laura glowered at me for the nickname but everyone else looked serious. "We'll let you know when Chuck finds him again. "Till then, dismissed."

I had kept driving until the car was low on gas. Then I left it. _There is no purpose in traveling by car. They are still faster than me in the Blackbird. _I walked towards the town down the road. _Primary objective: obtain firearms. _When they came back for me I needed a way to take out their ranged attackers. Preferably without killing. _Failing that, killing is an acceptable alternative. Secondary objective: find location suitable for ambush. _I was done running. But this could wait until I got some sleep. _I must be performing at maximum capacity when they arrive._ I broke into an empty house and laid on someone's bed. Due to the exhaustion, I fell asleep almost immediately.

A/N: X-29s skeleton is covered in adamantium. His joints are not. So his limbs can be dislocated and removed if cut at the joint. Oh and you notice how he thinks changes based on how much action is going on? Yeah, that's not my bad writing. There's a reason for that and it will be explained at some point in the story.


	11. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you

Two days later...

"I've got him." The professor said grimly. "I've told them to meet us at the Blackbird. You know what we need to do. Be careful. He will be waiting." I nodded and left. _Rematch time Psycho._

I surveyed the warehouse that I had turned into a trap. _Not likely to be lethal. High chance of causing debilitating injuries. _I had cut mostly through the supports of the warehouse. The building would collapse quickly if one of the supports was completely severed. I had place a container of gasoline next to one of the weakened supports. _The explosion will cause the building to collapse. When the X-Men appear I will inform the local authorities. They will attempt to arrest all of us. Bullets do not pose a serious threat to me. The same cannot be said of the majority of the X-Men._

Twenty five minutes later...

The familiar sound of air being displaced by something unseen informed me of their arrival. I stood at one end of the warehouse. A ruby red blast destroyed a chunk of the opposite side of the warehouse. _That missed a support by a couple feet. That would have ended my plan before it began. _Logan and Laura entered first, quickly followed by Rogue, Scott, Storm, Kurt, Kitty, Bobby, and Jean. "Weapon X. X-23." They began growling at my use of their designations. _Too easy. _Scott stepped forward. "Matt, come on we don't have to do this. You can surrender now and nobody will get hurt. My designation... is X-29." I extended the claws in my left hand and Logan smirked. "Come on kid, you know you can't take all of us." I reached down and strapped my katana to my back before replying. "I don't need to." They began their attack. Laura and Logan rushed me. It was all I could do to fend them off. They came from opposite sides, as if used to fighting together. The others weren't so coordinated. Bobby began firing blasts of ice which I maneuvered around so they were hitting Logan and Laura. Scott, Jean and Kurt spread out to cover the doors. Rogue moved in behind me. I ducked one particularly well aimed blast of ice which hit Logan full in the face. With him temporarily distracted I switched to pure offense and overwhelmed Laura. I cut her once across the neck and caught her retaliatory swipe. I twisted her arm so that it was locked in an extended position and I brought my hand down on the elbow. There was the awful sound of bone snapping and she retreated while it healed. Logan yelled at Bobby to quit shooting and began attacking me. I raised my claws to block and suddenly I couldn't move my body. I glanced over at the telepath to see her frowning in concentration. Logans claws sliced through my chest. I did the only thing I could think of. I focused on the telepath and mentally screamed _GET OUT OF MY HEAD_, putting all my willpower behind it. I could move again but Logan lunged forward and stabbed me through the chest with his claws. _Shit. _I jumped backwards and kicked him in the chest. He was knocked off his feet. I took advantage of the seconds I had to draw a gun and fire three times at Jean and twice at the gasoline container. I heard Jean scream but I was too busy warding off a healed Laura to check if I had hit the gasoline. Then I heard it explode. It blew with incredible forced and blasted us all back. I began to run. I heard the building begin to creak and groan ominously. Somebody yelled as it began to collapse.

I was hit in the back by what felt like a train. I turned to see Scott preparing another blast. I fired at him and he jumped behind a car. I rolled sideways and his second blast missed by inches. I turned and sprinted behind another building. Pulling out a 'borrowed' cell phone I called 911. "Oh my God. There's so much blood. I don't know, the warehouse they just blew it up. They're mutants. They're X-Men imposters and they just destroyed the warehouse and they're coming after me and _oh God please help me._ I'm at the docks. Hurry." I hung up. I listened, trying to hear where they were. Two people were walking towards where I was. Two more were waiting around the other side of the building. _Fools._ I cut through the wall and went straight through the building. Only to be shocked as Kitty and Bobby came straight through the wall. _She doesn't make noise when she's phasing? _I drew one pistol and began firing at Kitty, forcing her to stay phased. I extended two claws in my right hand and sliced at Bobby. He jumped onto an ice slide and slid away while firing blasts of ice at me. I sheathed my claws and switched the pistol to my right hand. I began firing at him and caught him in the leg on the third shot. He tumbled off his ice slide and I heard the sound of bones snapping and looked over to see him lying there, one arm at an unnatural angle. Kitty looked at me fearfully. "Help him and I won't shoot. Attack me and I will." She ran over to him and began ripping his shirt for bandages. I cut through the wall of the building and began running.

I heard thunder and the sky flashed. Something slammed into my back and knocked me a good five yards. It felt like my skin was melting. I looked up to see Storm preparing to throw another lightning bolt. _So that wasn't my imagination. My skin is melting. _I aimed my pistol and began shooting. On the second shot the gun clicked instead of firing. But one shot was enough. It hit her in the shoulder and she began to fall. She concentrated and her fall slowed. It looked like it was all she could do to slow her fall so I turned and continued running. I discarded the empty gun and pulled the unused one. I turned the corner of another warehouse and heard police sirens. _About damn time. _A pair of claws sliced up from the darkness of the shadow behind the warehouse and sliced my gun in half. _Shit. _I blocked the second strike. _Shit! _The third one cut through my bicep. _SHIT! _The fourth I blocked only to be sent flying by a boot planted on my sternum.

My head slammed into the side of the warehouse and my vision was blurred._ Concussion. Not good._ I tried to stand and fell over. Laura walked over, claws glinting. Just then a group of police officers ran around the building and yelled, "FREEZE. DROP THE KNIVES AND PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD." _Thank God. _I quickly put on an expression of fear and began babbling. "Oh thank God you guys got here in time. The warehouse they destroyed is over there. They're trying to KILL ME. PLEASE DON'T LET THEM KILL ME." I began sobbing and the rest of the uninjured X-Men ran around the building. The policemen trained their guns on them and repeated the command to freeze. Logan look pissed. "THIS KID IS FOOLING YOU." The policeman glanced at me, still crying, and looked back at Logan. "Put your hands on your head and lay facedown on the ground." The X-Men shot venomous looks at me but complied with the policeman's order. The other policemen began handcuffing them and took them to the cars. The policeman who had been yelling orders walked over to me. "We're gonna need to take that sword. You'll get it back when we're done." I removed it from my back and handed it to him. "Son, can you stand?" I sniffled and spoke in a relieved tone of voice. "I don't think so. That girl," I pointed to Laura, "kicked me into the wall. My vision is blurry and I can't balance. Ok, then son, here." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. He put my arm around my shoulders and began carrying me to the car.

We turned around the warehouse to see the X-Men explaining what happened to a doubtful policeman. I immediately whimpered and tried to hide behind the guy carrying me. He shot a hateful look at the X-Men and I listened to the officer questioning them. "You expect me to believe this kid is a wanted criminal," he gestured to me, "that you are supposed to apprehend. He fought all of you, wounded three of you, who, by the way, are nowhere to be found. He blew up that warehouse as a diversion and called us in an attempt to trick us into arresting you?" His tone of voice said _not a chance in hell _and I had to contain my laughter. The X-Men all looked pissed. Logan looked even more pissed than he had a moment ago. _He better calm down before he pops a blood vessel. _I had to try very hard not to laugh. Logan began growling and I played my part magnificently. "Oh God he wants to kill me! Please get him away from me! Oh God all those people in the warehouse!" The X-Men looked infuriated by my lie. The officer holding me gestured to Logan. "Get him outta here." He lowered his voice to what most people wouldn't have been able to hear. "He's freaking this kid out. He's practically hysterical." An ambulance drove up and they had an EMT check me out. He pronounced me unharmed and the officer helped me up again. He half-carried me over to the car, handcuffed me, and placed me in the backseat. "For something this big we're gonna need to take you to the police station and question you all there. We'll let you call your parents once we get there ok?" I sniffled again and nodded. They got the X-Men into the other cars and began to drive to the police station. Of course once the guy driving my car was distracted I unsheathed my claws and cut through the handcuffs and the metal grille between me and the driver. He turned at the noise and began shouting but I silenced him with a fist to the face. He slumped, unconscious and I grabbed the steering wheel and stopped the car. I pushed the officer out, ignored the other officers asking what was wrong over the radio and began to drive off. As I was escaping I picked up the radio and said, "Tell the X-Men. This was a nonlethal operation. All I want is to be left alone. If they attack me again I start killing." I ditched the cop car after a couple hours and stole a blue Volkswagon from a parking lot.

Back at the Institute...

"He played us." I was still pissed at that kid manipulating those cops so easily. Everyone who hadn't been a part of the mission began chuckling. I snarled and they stopped quickly. Except Xavier. "You have to admit Logan it was a pretty good plan. I'm aware." Nobody had any doubts the plan was smart. It still pissed everybody off though. _Well, just me really. _But he would never admit that to anybody but himself. "The kids aren't gonna like it when you take em off the team, Chuck. Only the senior X-Men can handle the kid if he's trying to kill." Charle's expression turned serious. "We're going to stop hunting him." The shocked silence was a far more effective plea for information than shouting could ever be. "I can't risk all our lives when he isn't doing anything besides trying to run. He almost killed Jean when he was trying not to kill." Jean had been bleeding from two gunshot wounds to the chest. If Kurt hadn't been teleporting the injured back to the mansion's infirmary she would be dead now. "I don't want to send you out again. It will only end badly. So we're just gonna wait till he starts killing people for fun? This kid is a killer. He can't be allowed to roam free. Logan, if the time comes when he does start killing innocents, then believe me I will be the first to try and stop him. But it's become too dangerous to go after him when he hasn't done anything. You mean like stomp Rogue half to death? He also healed her when he noticed the condition she was in. It's obvious he doesn't want to kill us, but he will if he thinks he doesn't have a choice." _He still thinks the kid's got a chance. Charles, you can be so hopelessly optimistic sometimes. _The professor laughed as if he could hear what I was thinking. Of course, he could.

A/N: If you understand the reference in the title after reading the chapter then good job. It's an awesome show. Whew. Took a while to update. I was re-reading my story and one of the chapters after this one is absolute shit. So I'm gonna have to redo the chapter. Sucks because its probably the longest chapter in the entire thing. Funny how that works isn't it? I had to partially redo this one because it's difficult to make the police interact with the X-Men in a believable way. When Kitty listens to X-29 she isn't being a gullible idiot. She figures if he does attack she can just phase out. I'd also like to clear something up. If the X-Men actually believed 29 was a serious threat they would be able to stop him pretty quickly (at his current level). He's not winning because he's better than them. He's winning because he's clever and he's good at playing people against each other. If Logan and Laura went up against him and nothing and no one else was involved they would beat him.


	12. A Pair of Variables

Disclaimer: I own all the characters in this chapter. Yes, even the nurse.

Three days later...

I had no idea where I was. I had kept driving for a few hours, stopping only to steal some new clothes and another Beretta to replace the one Laura had destroyed. I had finally given up on carrying a duffel bag around. They seemed to have a high mortality rate around me. _Then again, everything does. _It was sometime late at night or early morning. I liked the night better. Less humans to tempt me to kill. I had ditched the car again and was walking. I was passing a wrehouse and I heard crying. _Half the people in this city spend their time crying. Pathetic. _I was almost out of earshot when I heard, "Look at the mutie cower." _And now I need to get involved. _I turned and ran back to entrance. _This is going to hurt._

I put my claw sideways along the warehouse, braced myself, and slid it across. SKREEEEEEECH!My head felt like it was splitting open. "What the fuck was that? You two, check it out." I ran to the opposite side of the warehouse and entered quietly through an open door. I climbed on top of a huge metal container and looked to where I could hear the voices. Two girls were lying on the ground. One looked like she had been beaten horribly. There were bruises all over her face and arms and her wrist appeared to be broken. Her brown hair seemed to be unkempt and there was a lump on her skull. She seemed to be about my age. The other also had brown hair and she seemed to be about 12. She was lying on the older girl and crying. _At least I get to kill. _The men came back from investigating my noise. There were four. Two with baseball bats and two barehanded. "So mutie, a raccoon brought you a short break. But now we go right back to it." He swung the baseball bat and it smacked the twelve year old in the head with a loud crack. His mouth fell open. The bat had shattered upon contact and the girl had only been knocked back a step. _Optimal time to attack. _I leapt from my hiding place and popped my claws. I crept behind the farthest guy and sliced through the arm holding the baseball bat. Not in an attempt to let him live, but to prolong his death. "OH FUCK!" His friends jumped at his shriek. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT, FUCKER!" I ignored them and sliced the next guy from shoulder to hip. The third swung at me with a bat. _This is irritating._ I ducked and cut his legs off at the knee. The last pulled a knife and began advancing towards me. I gave a short laugh. He looked scared. He lunged and brought the knife down on my head. Which wasn't there anymore. I'd sidestepped the blow and was in the perfect position to take advantage of his missed attack. I grabbed his extended arm and pushed against the joint. It snapped like a twig. "FUCK!" He tried to kick me. I stabbed my claws through the side of his leg. He gave a short, strangled scream before I stabbed him through the skull. I turned to the others lying on the ground. They looked horrified. _Everyone seems to feel that way about me. I think I'm being very lenient towards them. This is nothing compared to what I think they deserve._ I sliced them each across the throat once.

I turned and assessed the two possible mutants. The little girl was crying and staring at me. Seeing this I felt... I didn't know what I felt. I felt like I needed to protect her. I felt sorry her life was so bad. I retracted my claws. "You need to get off her now so I can see how bad she is hurt." She shook her head. "If you do not she will die." That worked. I looked over her. Bruised everywhere. I felt her ribs. _Bruised, not broken. _I then felt her wrist. _Definitely broken. _Then I noticed a red stain on her shirt. I lifted it enough to see a long cut across her abdomen. _She's going to bleed out. _"Little girl- My name is Alyssa." Her voice was suprisingly strong for someone who had just watched their friend be beaten half to death. "I need to get your friend to the emergency room. She's going to die if she does not get there soon." Apparently this was not the right thing to say because she burst into tears. "You can't cry. Crying slows us down, and if we slow down she dies." She didn't stop crying but she seemed to focus through her tears and nodded at me. "I will carry her. You need to keep up." I picked her up and held her on my shoulders. She wasn't heavy. I carried her out of the building and put her down. I ran to the nearest pay phone and called 911. "I need an ambulance as soon as possible. My friend was mugged." I listed the street we were on and hung up. I ran back to the two girls. The older one was coming around. "What happened? Those thugs beat the hell out of you. I killed them." This woke her up quickly. She tried to look fierce and failed miserably. "Go away. We don't need your help." I just sat there. _She can't force me to leave. She doesn't have enough strength. _Sure enough when she tried to punch me it was so weak she didn't even hurt herself on my skeleton. "Shut up and save your strength. You're half dead. An ambulance is coming now." She looked scared. "I can't go in an ambulance. They'll find me. Please don't let them take me." And she lapsed back into unconsciousness. _Sorry girl, but if they don't take you you're gonna die._ The ambulance finally came within hearing range. I picked up the older girl and carried her closer to the road. The it drove up and two EMT's hopped out. They took her from me and put her in the back of the ambulance. The little girl went with them and they motioned me in. _Why the hell not? Not like I had anything planned. _So I got in and we drove off.

Eight hours later...

I woke up in the hospital with a feeling of wonder. _Not a single nightmare? Wow. Sleeping is actually enjoyable. _I turned my head and noticed the little girl in the chair next to me. She was asleep and her head was resting on my shoulder. _Why didn't I attack her? Not that I want to, but if people touch me in my sleep I attack. This must be some aspect of her power. _I raised my head as a nurse walked in. She gestured to the girl on the bed who was hooked up to an IV. "Your friend had a mild concussion, bruises on her arms, legs, head, and ribs, a broken wrist, and a serious cut along her lower abdomen." Her tone was professional. "We understand if you're a little distraught but we need to know what happened. We have to make a report to the police." I started speaking, being sure to sound hesitant and scared. "I heard shouting and I walked into an alley. A man was attacking these two. He panicked when he saw me and ran. I noticed her injuries and called an ambulance. I carried her to the street. You'll need to give a more in-depth explanation to a police officer later." Her tone turned gentle. "Your friend will be fine. We realigned her broken wrist and stitched up her cut. She'll just need to take it easy for a few days due to the concussion and bruises." I nodded and she left. The little girl suddenly woke up and looked around. "Where's Amy? What did they do with her?" She began crying again. _She's basically a walking, talking, headache._ "Your friend was nearly dead. I called an ambulance and the people here fixed her up." She stopped crying. _Thank God._ She looked at me. "Who are you anyway? Someone who hates humans. You say humans like you aren't one..." She cringed away from me. "You are a mutant right? Those men were calling you one." If she wasn't a mutant I was probably going to walk away right now. But she relaxed when she heard my words. "What do you mean silly? Mutants are humans too. My sister says it all the time." _Oh. Yeah. She's young. _"Where was your sister when all this was happening? She was protecting me from those thugs..." She began crying again. _At least she's crying quietly this time. And that girl being her sister would certainly explain the resemblance. They have the same hair and eyes. Bright green eyes. Unusual color. Now how do I get her to shut up?_ "How old are you?" She sniffled and looked at me. "Twelve. I made my first human kill at six. You shouldn't be crying this much." At my words she had started laughing. _I said something funny? _"You're funny. What's your name? X-29. Or X." She laughed at that too. "X isn't a name, silly. What's your real name?" _Not Matthew. That was someone else's name. _"I don't have one. You don't have a name? I'll just have to get you one. You seem like... a Phil." I stared at her._ Phil? Amanda suits me better than Phil. _She noticed my reaction and quickly added, "But you're more of a Victor." _If it will shut her up. _"I guess Victor's a good name. Yay! Then your name is Victor, X." My eye twitched.

Before I could ask her why she named me if she was going to call me X anyway, the girl on the bed suddenly groaned, and looked up. She saw me sitting there and her expression turned furious. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER? Letting her name me." Her anger faltered at my cynical answer and she turned to Alyssa. Alyssa hopped up and hugged her. "Amy! This guy saved us." Amy shot me a questioning look, but her sister wasn't done. "and he didn't have a name! Isn't that weird? So I named him Victor, but he likes being called X." The corners of Amy's mouth were twitching but she turned to me and looked serious. "Why did you help us?" _Good question. I wonder that myself. _"I was bored." She stared at me blankly. "We can't pay you... I don't want anything from you." She looked doubtful. Then she froze. "We need to get out of here now. If we stay, they'll find me." She looked at me desperately. "Can you help us again? You're the only one who can." I suddenly felt the same thing I had felt in the warehouse only much stronger. _I really should. They need me. They're so helpless... _Then I recognized what she was doing. "Stop that or I leave right now." She paled and the emotion suddenly disappeared. _She can manipulate emotions. Useful ability. _"You try to manipulate me and I leave without a second thought." She nodded quickly. "Now why should I help you? We don't have time-" I cut her off. "I'm not helping you unless I know exactly what it is I'm getting myself into." She looked irritated but quickly began explaining. "Our parents are billionares. They hate mutants. They kicked us out when they found out and sent people after us." _Short and sweet. That's good. It saves time. _"I'll help for now. Why do you want to leave now?" She appeared to be going over something in her head. "The people they hired are very good. They find us if we stay in one place too long. The staff won't let us leave and if we wait we'll be turned over to our parents. So we need to get out of here without being seen." _Easy. _I walked over to the window and looked down. The parking lot was right below us. We were only a floor up. I crouched and extended my claws. "What the hell are those? One of my powers. _One _of your powers? I heal. Quickly." I quickly cut a person sized hole in the wall. "You can run right? I can't run far with my ribs like this. How about jumping?" She looked from the hole to me and realized what I was planning. I cut off her protests. " It's only one floor. Can you jump from here? I don't think so. Then I'll carry you. Alyssa, can you jump from here if I catch you?" She nodded brightly. I stood next to the door and waited. "Come on Amy. We don't have all day." Her heart rate picked up and she blushed but she came and stood next to me. I picked her up bridal style and warned them. "If you scream, they will find us." She nodded. Then I jumped. I felt that exhilarating feeling of being in free fall. Then we of my legs buckled due to the force put on it. _Damn that burns. _The pain in my legs passed quickly and I put Amy down and stood below the hole. _This is unnecessary. Her ability is incredible resistance to damage. _Which was convienent. She jumped and landed right in my arms. She was giggling as I put her down. "We need to leave her now. They will discover that we've left." Amy nodded, took her sisters hand and we began walking away.

We reached a mostly empty parking lot after about a half hour. Amy sat down, presumably because of the pain in her chest. She looked up at me. "Look, we're really thankful for all your help, but I think it would be best for all of us if you left now." I nodded. I had taken two steps when something heavy had slammed into the back of my legs. "NOOOOO! YOU CAN'T MAKE X LEAVE! HE'S MY FRIEND!" I turned around, shocked to see Alyssa holding onto my legs. Amy looked just as shocked as I did. Alyssa continued yelling. "YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS CUZ YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!" She began crying. _Please make it stop. _Amy still looked shocked. Then she appeared to recover. "Alyssa, get off him and we'll talk about this." Alyssa obeyed reluctantly. Amy sighed exhaustedly. "I guess he can stay. But only if he wants to." Alyssa grabbed my hand and stared up into my face. _It's not like I have anything else to do. _"I'll stay."

Alyssa shrieked with glee and began swinging our arms back and forth. "There are some conditions. You listen to what I say, not the other way around, and if you become a liability you leave if we ask you to." I nodded. "Ok then, we know your powers so it's only fair if you know ours. I can detect and control emotions, as you probably guessed. I can also emit sonic blasts. My sister can control emotions and her skin is really tough. She hasn't been hurt since she mutated."_ I wonder how resistant it would be to my claws. _Of course I didn't say that. They probably wouldn't like the question. "Where are we doing?" I asked. "...We don't know. We were trying to find a home before. It was hopeless. So now we just try to survive." And then it hit me. I had to resist the urge to laugh. _Oh, the irony. _"I know a place you two can stay. It's a school for mutants. To learn to control their powers. You don't even need to pay." She brightened at this and Alyssa gasped. "How many mutants are there, X? Around twenty. Wow! More people like us!" Amy turned to Alyssa. "I need to speak to Victor about something serious. Wait here?" Alyssa pouted as Amy grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to an alley. She turned to me and looked serious. "If you're lying to us, I will kill you. Healing or no healing." _Yawn. _"Everything I said is true. Then why aren't you there now?" _She's not stupid. Too bad. _"They don't like me. Why? Something I did." She looked suspicious but then turned and walked back to her sister. _It's funny, in a way, that after all I did I would be walking right back to them. But these two are more important than me. They still have innocence. And hope. I lost both a long time ago._

A/N: Took forever to redo this. The first version was crap. I'm still not entirely satisfied with this one but I assume you all would rather I uploaded a fairly good version than take another week to make it perfect. How will 29 fare at his return to the mansion? Will he wake up the next morning tied to a chair and notice Amy sharpening an axe? Will I upload the next chapter in a reasonable amount of time? Find out this and more when my sadist of a math teacher decides that attempting to exhaust us to death with math homework will take too long and gives up. _  
_


	13. Confrontation

A/N: I got this one up pretty quickly. This story is almost over but don't worry, I have the first chapter of the sequel already written. And honestly I think the sequel is better. It will have the New Mutants in it. And frankly, I think they're much more interesting characters. There's also many more of them. So, tell me how I did. Did I update too quickly? Too slowly? Does my characterization of half these characters suck as bad as I think it does? Do you hate 29? Do you sympathize with him? Do you think he's a Gary Stu? Do you think he's boring? I know I'm bored. That's the reason I'm writing all these questions out. On an unrelated note, the next chapter should be up pretty soon.

Five days later...

The return to the Institute had been much faster than leaving it. It took me over a month to reach where I was when I found Amy and Alyssa. It's been five days and we're almost in Bayville. Of course I had been walking on my first trip. These two can't walk as long as I can so we're stealing more cars. I got to know my companions better as we traveled. Amy been a freshman when her parents had kicked her out. Alyssa had been in the sixth grade. As I learned more about them they learned almost nothing about me. They learned I had nightmares. Sometimes bad ones, although they were much better in their presence. They learned I didn't know some expressions and social etiquette. Charles had given me knowledge of common expressions and basic social etiquette through the memories he implanted in my mind. He didn't cover all of them though. They didn't question my Beretta's or my katana which made things easier. Alyssa seemed very attached to me. _Foolish. Attachments only bring pain. _We were driving along in our newest car, a blue-gray Honda Odyssey. I glanced at the time. We had just entered Bayville and it's 2am._ We should wait until tomorrow. _I glanced back. Amy and Alyssa were both sleeping in the back. _May as well get some rest myself. _I pull the car over and try to get comfortable.

Two P.M. the next day...

_This should be entertaining. _We were just outside the Institute. We approached the gate and listened while someone welcomed me. "Welcome to the Xavier Institute. What can we do for you? I've got some new students for you. Come on up. We'll have someone take you to the professor's office." _They didn't recognize me. That's good and bad. Good because they won't bar me from entry. Bad because there are much more of them inside so we may end up with a mob on our hands. _We were in front of the huge doors to the Institute. I open them, wondering who will be greeting me. The opened doors revealed Kitty Pryde who, upon seeing me, went from smiling to a kind of horrified shock. It lasted only a second though. Before I could do anything more than give a slight smile at her expression she screamed. "MATTHEW'S BACK!" She phased and began running away. I heard dozens of feet coming towards us. _Fun._

Naturally, the first two to enter the room were Logan and Laura. Logan snarled and raised his claws. Alyssa screamed in terror. He glanced at her, noticed I still hadn't moved to defend myself, and decided to wait to skewer me. Instead he grabbed a handful of my shirt and threw me against the wall. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled. The other students were lined up on the second floor. I smiled arrogantly. "I felt like paying you a visit." This didn't didn't seem to please him. He raised his claws to my throat and began pressing down. Professor Xavier entered. "Logan, let him go. He didn't come to fight." Logan continued snarling and holding me. I smiled at him. He gave one last snarl and dropped me. The professor gestured at us and we followed him to his office. I pretended not to notice the glares I was getting as I passed the other students. Logan, Laura, Scott, and Jean followed behind me. We entered and he offered the three of us chairs. "I don't plan on staying Xavier." Alyssa sniffled at that and began crying. "You can't just leave, X. You said you'd stay with us." I ignored her and continued. "Will you accept them here?" The professor nodded. _Good. Now I just need to get out of here. _I made to stand up but Logan grabbed my shoulder and forced me back into the chair. The professor sighed. "You know I can't just let you walk away. I'm going to be as simple as I can. If you don't let me go, people will die." Amy and Alyssa both looked shocked as I said this. Alyssa began speaking. "But, you wouldn't kill innocents..." I smiled grimly. "So, Xavier, what do you plan on doing with me?" He frowned, deep in thought. Logan spoke. "We should just turn him over to SHIELD, Chuck. Or we can have him imprisoned like Juggernaut. You should try that. I give it a week before I break out." Logan began growling again. Laura spoke. "It is simple. He has grown attached to these two." She gestured at Amy and Alyssa. "If we threaten them, he will comply." _Huh. She's right. Who would have thought I'd realize that here._ I was saved the breath of threatening them by Xavier's quick reply. "We do not take hostages, Laura. These two are under our protection now." Then he sighed. "I'm going to have to ask all of you except these three," he gestured at me, Amy, and Alyssa, "to leave the room." Scott protested. "Professor, it's not safe." The professor looked at me seriously. "Do you agree to let me read your mind to determine whether or not you will?" I nodded. He frowned in concentration and I immediately felt him examining my mind. He withdrew after a second. "He will not attack me as long as we are just speaking. Everyone, leave." They looked like they seriously disagreed but they left.

"Matthew- My name, is X-29." I glanced at Alyssa, "or Victor." She smiled at that. "Who are you?" Amy of course. "Professor, have you decided what you're going to do? Not yet, but perhaps your explanation would help?" He seemed to be laughing. _I feel... reluctant to divulge the information. Curious. _I looked straight at the sisters and began. "I'm an assassin. I was trained from birth to kill." They looked shocked."A few months ago, I broke out and killed every single one of the people who created me." They looked horrified. "I didn't stop there. I hunted every single member of the organization they belonged to. I killed every one of them on the continent. I came here, to kill the original Weapon X, who I was cloned from, to stop them from doing anything like this ever again. I failed. Xavier suppressed my memories and gave me artificial ones. When I regained my memory I took one student hostage and nearly killed another. Then I ran. Then I met you two." Amy looked dubious. "How do we know if what you're saying is true? Ask anyone in this mansion." She looked at Xavier and he nodded in acknowledgement. Then he looked at me. "Victor, my only option is to turn you in to SHIELD." I looked at him calmly. "Then I'll have to start killing." Now Alyssa looked scared. Amy looked disgusted. "You would kill people just like that? You're sick." _Maybe I am. Doesn't change anything. _"So, what are you going to do Xavier?" He sighed. "I'm going to let you go." _Too bad. That would have been an interesting fight._ I stood up and began to walk out. I stopped when Alyssa spoke. "You're just gonna leave us? I thought you cared about us..." She looked like she was going to begin crying again. _She has a lot to learn about me. _"Don't worry, I'm sure the professor will put you on the next team to capture me if you ask nicely. Victor, wait." I turned to the professor. "Please go take a walk while I talk to those outside, but do not leave the Institute. I may have a plan that will satisfy us all."

I nodded and left his office. Wolverine snarled upon seeing me but didn't stop me. Presumably because he heard the entire conversation with his enhanced hearing. Laura merely stared at me as I walked back the entrance. _Ironic that the two people I could consider family hate me more than anyone else. _People stopped talking and began backing away as I approached and I couldn't help but laugh. I descended the staircase and noticed Bobby talking to Kurt. They turned to me and Kurt looked worried. Bobby looked like he hated my guts. _Not surprising. _I exited through the front doors and began walking the grounds. _Wasting my time. Every moment I stay is one more chance for some idiot to attack me for revenge. Then everyone else will side with their friend and I will be forced to kill them all. _I heard the footsteps of two people behind me. I pretended to not hear them and kept walking. They sped up and were right behind me in a minute. _Bold._ I turn to see Rogue and Kitty. _Odd. I hadn't thought they would be the ones who wanted me dead. _I stare at them as they approach. I waited until Rogue began to speak in her southern drawl. "Why didn't ya kill me?" _Surprising. _"There was no advantage in your death." She and Kitty glanced at each other. "What do ya mean?." _Did she not hear me? _"I do not understand." They shifted nervously. "So, like, why did you leave the mansion?" Kitty this time. "That's irrelevant." Now Rogue looked annoyed. "What do ya mean it's irrelevant? None of this woulda happened if you'd stayed. I mean it's not up for discussion." _I left because I don't trust any of you. But somehow I doubt that answer would alleviate her fear. _Her angry expression seemed to melt, to be replaced with...sadness. "It's just, we don't know anything about you. I probably know more than anyone else and I know next to nothing." I had been curious what she'd seen when I healed her. "What memories did you get when I healed you?"

I'd expected that one. "I saw you killing all those HYDRA members. Right after you escaped." I shuddered at the thought. _The things he did to them gave me the worst nightmares I've ever had. _Kitty seemed confused at my reaction. He looked at me and said matter-of-factly. "Those were some of the best memories of my life." _Oh... oh God. He holds humans responsible for what was done to him. Now it makes sense. _When he noticed I wasn't going to be responding to him he turned to Kitty and asked. "Why are you here? We were all like, kind of worried about what you might do. So when Rogue mentioned she wanted to talk to you I like, came with her to phase us out if you...attacked." She finished sheepishly. "Like a rabid animal." He said thoughtfully. Kitty looked horrified. "No, like, we didn't mean it like that." He just stared at her. _Kitty's a pretty bad liar. _"You can't blame me for being worried. You nearly like killed Rogue!" He just nodded. Then we all heard Xavier in our thoughts. _Rogue, Kitty, please escort Victor back to my office. I believe some of the students would feel safer if they saw you with him. _"Victor? My name. Matthew was a different person. I just happen to resemble him." _I don't believe that's completely true. _But I didn't think he would be willing to talk about that. We turned and started walking back to Xavier's office in silence.


	14. It's in the Blood

_Good. I dislike killing mutants. _Rogue's expression at my matter-of-fact statement had nearly made me laugh. _They only get better from there._ We made our way back to Xavier's office while ignoring the looks directed at us. We arrived in time to see Logan walk past us, looking pissed. He gave me his customary snarl as we walked by. It was just the three of us, Alyssa and Amy in the professors office. "Matthew, we have a proposition for you. Most of us have agreed to let you stay here at the Institute." _That was unexpected. _Kitty and Rogue glanced at each other. "We only have one stipulation." _Of course. _"You allow me to examine your mind whenever I feel the need to. Anything I find will never be told to anyone else unless it threatens our students." _Reasonable. Suspiciously so. _"You aren't worried I'll murder you all in your sleep?" He looked irritated at that. "You will also have to stop attempting to provoke us. You must make an effort to cooperate." _Sounds interesting. _"How will your students feel about this? Most of them will give you a chance." _So some of them won't. Good. Otherwise this wouldn't be any fun. _"I accept, with one condition. Call me Victor. The name Matthew will cause confusion. Matthew is dead. I just happen to look like him." Xavier nodded seriously and then addressed the others. "Rogue, please show Amy to her room. Kitty, please show Alyssa to hers. Victor, Bobby is hurt over what he sees as your betrayal. I'm going to have you room alone." He told me my room was right next to my old one. I left as he was telling Kitty and Rogue where the others rooms where. I went to my room, put my backpack on the bed and went to shower.

"DANGER ROOM SESSION! NOW!" Came Logan's voice from down the hall. _The Danger Room is a waste of my time unless I'm facing Laura. Then it would be fun._ I stood up and left the room.I walked down to the DR and put on the suit I'd used before. I entered the observation deck to see most of the students there. "What are they doing here?" Logan smiled in anticipation. "I don't know, kid. Maybe they're hoping something interesting'll happen." _A trap then. Maybe it will make it an actual challenge. _"What's my mission? We're gonna do some hand to hand combat first, to see how good you are. Then, depending on how good you do, I'll choose another exercise." _Maybe I won't fall asleep after all._

I took the elevator down to the ground floor and entered the empty room. A door opened on the other side of the room and Laura walked in. _And suddenly everything makes sense. Who wouldn't want to watch two trained assassins fight? I bet Logan's grinning up there. _"You two are gonna be fighting. No claws, and no fatal strikes. Other than that, anything goes. Begin." At first neither of us moved. We circled each other, waiting. Then, Laura jumped at me and kicked at my ribs. I blocked with my arm and jabbed my other arm towards her jaw. She ducked and aimed a punch at my chest. _First mistake._ I caught her hand with mine, pulled it towards me, and brought my elbow down on the back of hers. The sickening sound of bone snapping echoed throughout the room. The pain didn't even phase her. She immediately dropped to the ground and kicked my feet out from under me. I landed on my back and twisted my head to avoid her stomp. _She's not bad. This is fun after all. _The next time she tried to stomp my face I moved back and then my foot shot out and hit her kneecap. It forced her back a step andI leapt to my feet. My nose was met by her fist on the way up. The sound of cartilage breaking was duller and crunchier than bone snapping. It still hurt like mad though. Thankfully, pain doesn't bother me very much. I twisted to the side and took her follow-up punch on the shoulder. I grabbed her by the arm and flipped her over my shoulder. She slammed into the ground and before she could recover I reached down, gripped her head in both hands, and twisted.

When I saw that psycho break her neck I roared into the sudden silence. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YA DOING? I SAID NOTHING FATAL!" He looked up expressionlessly. "It wasn't." I sighed. _He's deliberately misunderstanding._ I glanced at the students. They looked slightly sick. They'd been having the time of their lives until he had snapped her neck. Clearly they hadn't thought he would do something like that to a teammate. _They better believe it. This kid's really messed up. _Laura's neck snapped back into position and she sat up. "You failed your objective. You dealt a lethal blow. Sounds like someone's pissed at being last years model." He replied. _This kid thinks too much of himself. I'm gonna have to cure him of that._ Laura looked annoyed. I interrupted them before they started fighting again. "Psycho, Squirt, break it up. You'll get a rematch in a few days Laura. Psycho get out of here." He his face remained expressionless as he exited the room.

_Disappointing. She has good control. A real fight against her would have been interesting. _I felt Xavier in my head. _"You should prepare for school tomorrow, Victor." _Now that was suprising. "_You still want me to attend? I know nearly everything they teach there. I am sending you to learn about social interactions. I feel it would be good if you got used to being around others your age. And Victor? Do not attempt to provoke my students. That behavior will not be tolerated." _His presence was gone. _He seems determined to prevent me from having fun. _Then I realized I had nothing to do with the rest of the day. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I heard familiar footsteps a few halls down.

They seemed to be coming in my direction. _I would have thought her sister had told her not to speak to me. _Alyssa hurtled around the corner and attempted to tackle me. _She's quite strong for her age, _I observed as I watched her try fruitlessly to push me over. "You're not afraid of me?" She looked up seriously. "You haven't done anything to make me afraid. You act scary but you saved me and my sister." _Logical. _"She wouldn't want you talking to me. Take me to her room please." She pretended to pout and then began walking. She stopped in front of one of the rooms and knocked. Amy opened it, looking tired. Upon noticing me her expression morphed into wariness. "What are you doing with my sister? Abducting her. I told her to take me to the air vents. She must have tricked me." She made a rude gesture with one hand and I took that as my cue to leave. I could hear them arguing behind me. "He's dangerous! I don't want you talking to him. He's nice and you're just jealous." _They're both annoying. "Victor?" _Xavier again. _"Hank needs to give you a medical examination. Please meet him in the infirmary." _ And he was gone. _Such a waste of time._

Dr. McCoy had just finished his examination. It was a standard physical examination. He had proclaimed me to be in good health. He was now examining one of the vials of blood he had taken. "Is that all Doctor? Yes, Victor. I'll let you know if anything unusual turns up in your blood." _I suppose I better warn him. _"Do not use my blood in transfusions." He turned to me curiously. "Why? It would save time if you just tested it." He looked like he wanted to know more but he waved towards the door. I thanked him for examining me and began the walk back to my room.

_"Logan? Yeah Chuck? Please meet us in the infirmary." _I was drinking a beer in the kitchen, having just finished training a group of students in the Danger Room. _Sounds serious. _I get upwalk to the elevator leading to the infirmary. I head down and enter the room where Laura, Hank, and Charles are already waiting. "What's this about, Chuck? Hank has just taken a sample of Victor's blood." I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah? And? It has an... interesting effect on organic material. Get to the point. It would be easier to demonstrate." He took a glass instrument and dipped it in a vial of blood. He removed it and let a single drop fall into another vial of blood. The entire vial began turning black. After a few seconds the entire thing was pure black. "His blood doubles as a biological weapon when mixed with any other blood type. It viciously attacks and converts other blood into duplicates of his." _So he could kill us all by cutting his finger over a salad. That's just great._ "I obviously haven't tested this but based on this vial of blood it would take only a few drops of his blood to kill an adult human." _Damn. _"Then what's his blood type?" I demand. "That is the basis of our problem. He doesn't have a blood type. Not one I can identify at any rate. The only other person I've seen like this Laura." _Oh. I get it now. _"So you want to see how it will react to her blood? Basically, yes." He cleaned Laura's arm with rubbing alchohol and inserted the needle into the crook of her arm. After retrieving two vials he withdrew the needle. He repeated the test but this time when he added the single drop of Victor's blood nothing happened. He frowned and then added another chemical. "Great Scott! What's happening furball? His blood-it's accelerated the healing factor of Laura's blood tenfold!" I scowled. Hank continued his explanation. "The chemical I just added was a powerful acid. When added to Laura's blood the acid would normally be destroyed in a few minutes. With Victor's blood it took seconds." _Not all bad then. _"What about my blood?" He paused. "I'm not certain, but it probably wouldn't kill you. It would only cause you pain until your healing factor managed to neutralize it." _So this kid is even less human than I thought. At least it proves he doesn't want us dead yet. He could have just poisoned all the food with a few drops of his blood. They really went all out with him. And now I feel sorry for the kid. Goddamn. _The professor looked grave. "Please do not mention this to the students. It will only make them fear him even more. We will only tell them if absolutely necessary." _Charles is right. He's already disliked enough. _"I'm gonna go then Chuck. Got places to be, Danger Room sessions to plan." He nodded and I left.

A/N: Ohhhhh new developments. 29 is rather impatient isn't he? Well say what you like about HYDRA but you can't claim his lifestyle there was boring. Oh, and try not to hate me for him beating Laura. His bones cannot be broken and due to the adamantium his punches are probably quite damaging. That and the fact they received similar hand-to-hand combat training gives him the definite advantage. Don't worry though, Logan would still kick his ass. I'm not trying to portray 29 as Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee rolled into one, I'm trying to portray the three of them as similar, but with slightly different strengths. Laura is good at killing humans. There's not much she can do in a straight up fight against an opponent she can't cut. (See: Kimura, Logan, X-29. And by can't cut I mean can't do very much real damage. The few places she can cut 29 and Logan to do real damage are the heart and certain veins and arteries. Cutting those wouldn't do much against someone who would heal them before they could lose any significant blood.) Logan has been taking down all different types of enemies in his lifetime, so he's pretty good at killing singular stronger enemies, but not as quick at killing humans as Laura is. 29 is somewhere in the middle. I'm not going to be giving much credence to the one time in the comics where Laura fought Logan. For one thing, it wasn't a real fight. For another, the whole rubbing-dirt into his wounds was totally implausible. If he couldn't heal when there was something inside him, one adamantium bullet in his brain would disable him for days at the very least. And one bullet to the heart would probably kill him. I would add some more stuff here, but if I did it would be longer than the chapter. So, until next time, read, review, and let me know if something in my story seems silly or implausible.


	15. Bloodthirst

The next day...

School. Again. After getting a whole two hours of sleep last night I had decided to take advantage of being awake all night. I had prepared for school and eaten a breakfast of fruit by 7:00. As soon as I was done I had left the mansion, opting to walk to the school. Being in the car with them would just be giving them a chance to question me anyway. I had wondered how Xavier would explain my absence from school and the change in my name. He had simply wiped all memory of me from the humans minds. As far as they knew I was a new student. _This is going to be a challenge. A building full of humans. It will be difficult to abstain from killing. _Seeing as how I left nearly an hour early I arrived at 7:45. School didn't begin until 8:15. I walked straight to the office and got my schedule. They'd had an unexplained open spot in a few classes. _The exact classes I had before. Truly a mystery._

I walked outside to the grassy field that was used for gym class. _I get the nagging feeling this will be a complete and utter waste of my time. _I stopped suddenly and listened. I heard the air whistling quickly around... something that was moving at an incredible speed. It was being followed by three pairs of footsteps. One seemed to be extraordinarily heavy, one seemed to be hopping around, and the other walked normally. I turned to see a white-haired boy stop in front of me. "Mutant." And then a memory of something Kurt had told me flashed in my head. Back when I was under Xavier's mental influence. _The Brotherhood. This might be fun after all. _"So, the newest X-Geek has arrived. What're your powers?" I merely smile, showing teeth. "Not talking? Maybe my friends could persuade you." He gestured and I turned to see the other three footsteps I had heard. Sure enough, one was incredibly obese, another looked like it was half-toad, and the other seemed normal. The normal looking one snorted and spoke. "You don't look like any threat at all. But then again half the X-Geeks have pathetic powers. I hear one of them can multiply himself. What kind of useless power is that? Get to the point, Lance." The huge one said. "Yeah, anyway we like to show the X-Geeks who's boss from time to time. See, we're gonna have you deliver a little message to your friends." He cracked his knuckles. I couldn't even respond if I wanted to. My blood was practically singing with the desire for violence. My grin widened and I raised my hands slowly.

_This is bad. _I'd just finished driving the others to school and Jean searched for Victor telepathically. We were worried when he didn't turn up for the drive. She found him right near the Brotherhood. _They're dead if we don't stop him. _I raced onto the field behind the school to see him smiling a truly disturbing grin. _It looks like... he's about to kill them all. This is REALLY bad. _"Kurt! Get Laura over there! She's the only one who can delay him! Now!" Kurt grabbed Laura and teleported. They appeared near the Brotherhood and the Brotherhood prepared to fight. We ran up and I held my glasses, prepared to stop them if the Brotherhood-or Victor- made a move. I looked at him and he was suddenly a foot from Lance his arm raised to smash it into his face. But Laura stepped forward and gripped his arm. She frowned at him and he looked _livid. _He gave a snarl that would have made a grizzly bear run for cover and I was sure we would have to fight him off. But then he stepped back with another snarl and began walking towards the school. _Thank God. _I turned to the Brotherhood who still looked ready to fight. "You better run kid! You know you couldn't fight us by yourself so you called your friends!" Pietro shouted. I stepped forward and tried to look as frightening as possible. "You _idiot. _We just saved your lives. That guy," I nodded towards the retreating form of Victor," would have killed you all if we hadn't stopped him." They just smiled thinking I was trying to fool them. "Look, I hate you guys and you hate me. But please, for your sakes _listen. _He. Is. A. Killer. He won't hesitate to cut all of you down. Save it for someone who cares." And with Lance's idiotic dismissal they all stepped back and began walking towards the school. I turned to the others, looking grim. "He's going to kill all of them. Best we can do is keep an eye on him until the day is over and then let the professor know about this. Victor listens to the professor. Sometimes." I turned to Laura. "He also seems to listen to you. Keep close to him and try to keep him from killing anybody alright?" She nodded. "Well, then let's go. We're almost late.

I stormed back to the school in an extremely bad mood. _This anger is irrational. Being around people is degrading my control._ I stopped in front of the building and took a few breaths. _They interrupted me. Xavier will forbid me from going after them. They didn't even understand the situation. _What made me even angrier was when Laura had been the one to try and stop me._ And I listened to her. _And that was what made me so angry. That I had listened to her._ What the hell is wrong with me? _I had heard the first few sentences of Scott's as I was walking back and then stopped paying attention when it had just made me want to go back and kill them all. _I didn't want them dead you fool. I wanted to hurt them. Not kill. Xavier forbade me killing anyone. _I snarled under my breath and made myself calm down. _I cannot go to school this angry. They will send me straight to the principle. _So I stood there calming down until the warning bell rang.

Lunch time. Sure enough, I knew almost all the things they were teaching here. The only things I didn't know were the movie quotes my history teacher kept using to keep us interested. Of course all my teachers were delighted at having a new student who was clearly intelligent. All except the English teacher. She was displeased because I was an intelligent mutant. Her attitude was the first thing to make me consider breaking my word to Xavier. Of course It would be a pointless breach of the agreement. One human was not worth... _What, exactly? Why am I even staying here? _I had no answer. Then I returned my attention to the immediate area. _This is a waste of time. _I bought an apple and left the cafeteria to go eat outside.

I sat under a tree near the field and heard familiar footsteps following me. I turned to see Laura walking up to me. "Scott has asked me to follow you and ensure you do not kill anyone." Her blunt nature was refreshing. She sat down a feet from me. "I had assumed when you did not reveal your claws that your intent was not to kill." _At least she's intelligent. _"You talk more around me than around the other students." I observed. I didn't really care. It was either that or stare into the distance though. She looked confused for a second and then responded hesitantly. "You understand me better than they do. I believe it comes from our similar pasts." _Speaking of which..._ "Do you also know most of the things they're teaching here?" She nodded. "Then why do you suffer through it? Because Logan wants me to. Why do you obey him? Because he cares for me." That brought me up short. I could not respond. _I have not had anyone care for me. The closest thing I have is Xavier. I lack the necessary experience to relate._ So we just sat there in silence until the bell rang.

A/N: Pretty short this time. So, I was thinking what 29's code name should be. I thought of biohazard first but that's a little too cheesy. I'm thinking pathogen right now but I'm taking suggestions. So, if you think you have a good code name for him send me a pm or include it in your review. If it's good, I'll use it. I just saw Kick-Ass the other day and it was pretty good. Hit-Girl was awesome. I would recommend you all see the movie.


	16. Apathy

After school...

I was right outside of the Institute. _Scott will probably have everyone waiting to ambush me inside. He will not react well to what I have to say._ Laura had walked with me. She took Scott's instructions seriously. She began heading up to the front doors, apparently considering her mission completed. I waited a moment and then followed. I opened the door and had to stop myself from sighing. _Too predictable, Summers. _He was waiting with Kitty, Rogue, Jean and now Laura. I moved to walk past him and he stepped in front of me. I looked up into his face emotionlessly. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I just stared at him. This seemed to infuriate him. "Don't play stupid with me Victor. The Brotherhood. Did you forget Xavier's order to kill? Or do you just break your word without regret? Are you really an animal?" _My control is definitely degrading. _"None of them are dead. Now get out of my way." Jean stepped forward. "Please Victor. We need to know if we can trust you." _That's all? They should have asked sooner. _"You can't. Move." Now Rogue stepped forward. "Ok, cut the bullshit. We need to know. Then ask Xavier. _Move." _Just then Amy entered from the direction of the Danger Room. Her outfit was burned and torn and she seemed irritated. Then seemed to notice us and winced. "You guys should really calm down. Scott feels like he's about to pop a blood vessel." Scott looked bemused at the statement. I took the opportunity his distraction provided and brushed past him. I heard his heart rate accelerate and nearly laughed. _Go ahead and try it. _Then he took a breath and his heart began slowing. _Logical...but disappointing.. _Amy seemed to be amused as I walked past her. _She can feel my disappointment. That will make it difficult for me to deceive her. _

I got to my room to see Logan leaning against the wall. "Kid, the professor wants to see you." I threw my backpack onto my bed and followed him to the professors office. We enter and Logan takes a seat next to Xavier. _Surprising. Somehow I didn't picture him as a therapist. _Xavier chuckles at the thought. He was examining my memories of the day. Then his expression turned serious. "You need to show more restraint. You cannot fight the Brotherhood unless there is no other choice. Do you understand?" I nodded. Then Logan leaned forward. "Good job pissin off Slim. He needs to lighten up. Heard the whole thing a couple halls down." Xavier frowned at Logan and then turned back to me. "Why do you distrust the students? It's nothing personal. I don't trust anyone. Why? It was one of the lessons HYDRA taught me very well." I could hear Logan's heart rate accelerate considerably. _He hates them too. I wonder why... _Xavier seemed saddened by my response. "I understand what they did to you left you scarred, but we won't take advantage of you, Victor. We only want to help you. I'm a realist, professor." _So I believe you will only allow me to stay here as long as it's convenient. _I didn't say the thought aloud but Xavier seemed to understand it as if I had. "I hope you will grow to trust us in time. For now though, I will have to settle for your word that you will not get into fights." _He's very good at reading people even without his powers. _I nodded in agreement. "Then that is all. You had better begin your homework, Victor." Taking that as a dismissal, I turn and leave the room.

The day after...

_So tedious. _I was back in school. I had just entered my history class. _Is the tedium intentional? It does not appear to be conducive to learning. _A blond boy sat down next to me. "Hey." He whispered. "Hello, human." I responded. Usually the Xavier Institute's reputation was enough to dissuade people from talking to me but there had been exceptions. One other had attempted to talk to me the day girl had been disappointed when I had responded coldly to her greeting. _I do not talk to humans. _He didn't take the hint. "You say it like you aren't one. I am not. I am from the Xavier Institute." He smiled at this. "Mutants are human too." _He doesn't seem to realize that could be construed as an insult. Even stranger, he seems to believe what he said. _"Most humans disagree." He looked saddened by my statement. "They're the ones who aren't human." _He is a fool. _He seemed to be waiting for a response and when he realized I wasn't offering one he turned his attention to the teacher, who was in the middle of a terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.

I had just payed for my apple and headed for an empty table in the cafeteria. Kurt was right behind me. "Victor, vhy don't you eat anything other zen zeir apples? I can smell what they put in their food. If I told you half the things they put in that..._meatloaf_ you wouldn't be eating it either." He looked vaguely nauseous at my words. We sat down and I began eating in silence. Kitty, Scott, and Jean had followed Kurt and were sitting next to him and talking about some band. _This place is so full of noise and scents. I cannot pick out any individual one. _Someone slid into the table next to me. It was the blond boy that had sat next to me in history. "So, I figured since you don't seem to have any friends here, I would volunteer for the position." The other Institute members had stopped their conversation and were staring at the boy in shock at his words. I didn't respond in any way. He was undeterred by my cold demeanor. "Everybody needs friends." He prompted. Kurt finally recovered from his shock. "You do know vhat ve are?" Blond-boy turned to Kurt. "Mutants, right? Or did he make that up just to get attention?" Scott inhaled half his milk up his nose at the thought of my trying to get attention from humans. Kitty and Jean were giggling. Kurt was grinning. "If you normally attempt to make friends by implying that they are liars I fail to see how you have made any at all." Blond-boy grinned wickedly. "Name's Mark by the way." He looked at me pointedly. I continued eating my apple. After a few seconds he got tired of waiting. "So what's your name? X-29." The Institute students seemed uneasy. I didn't usually use my designation. "Seriously? That's awesome. X-29 is a bit of a mouthful though. How bout just X? Whatever you prefer." _What an unusual human. _"I told you my name so you would quit calling me human, _human_. You're just as human as I am." He finished seriously. _If only he knew just how wrong he was... _"I find humans despicable." Now the Institute students looked very uncomfortable. "And I see us all as humans. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree." _He is giving me a headache. I have an accelerated healing factor and he managed to give me a headache. _Kitty was trying not to laugh at my expression when all the people at the opposite side of the table suddenly sat up and looked serious. I turned to see a group of big guys wearing Bayville High football jerseys. "More humans. You seem to be everywhere." Mark grinned at that and stopped suddenly when one of the football players stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar. "I always knew you were a wimpy little faggot but hanging with muties? That deserves a special punishment." He raised his fist to punch him and I returned to eating my apple. _I don't care what he does to him. _

"A little help?" Mark prompted. Victor completely ignored him. _What an asshole. _The jock suddenly turned to Victor. "Hey, you're the new freak." He dropped Mark and moved to stand over Victor. "Looks like you're off the hook pussy. We gotta teach the new kid how it works around here." When Victor laughed I assumed he was about to do something violent. _Him laughing is usually a bad sign. _"You attack a table of mutants? Do you have a death wish, human? What the fuck did you just call me? I called you a human. And I wasn't even going to break anything either. Well, you mouthed off and now you're gonna pay." _This could get bad._ Victor leaned back, utterly relaxed. "You're going to threaten me? You're stupider than I'd thought. You have no idea what my power is. Your 'power' won't be much help when I've broken every bone in your body will it?" Victor smiled. Jean contacted me mentally. _"What do we do Scott? If Victor makes a move stop him with your TK. Until then lets see how he handles it" _"You see, for all you know, I could light you on fire with a snap of my finger. Maybe I shoot lasers out of my eyes. Maybe I can freeze you where you stand. Maybe my blood is a deadly neurotoxin. Maybe every bone in my body is made of metal. So, human, if you feel like dying go ahead and throw a punch. Maybe they'll be able to identify your incinerated remains." The jocks looked noticeably less enthusiastic at this point then they had before Victor's threat. The jock who had been speaking attempted to look threatening and failed. "You wouldn't do that you little piece of shit. You'd be locked up for life. And you human, would be dead. Want to try me?" The gleam in Victor's eye suggested he wanted the jock to do just that. The jock appeared to notice it. "I'll see you later mutie. I won't forget about this." The jocks turned and walked away quickly. Victor sighed and continued eating his apple. _Normally I would tell him off for that... but he doesn't listen to me at all. I think I'll let the professor handle it._ Mark looked impressed. "Nice job with those assholes. So your power has something to do with fire I take it? No. I see... so what is your power?" Victor showed no sign he had even heard him. Mark turned to me. "Is he normally like this?" I couldn't resist grinning at his tone. "Yeah. Don't take it personally. Good, because for a minute there I thought he didn't like me or something." _What a smartass. He's funny though._

School had just been let out and I began walking back towards the Institute when I heard someone call for me to wait. Recognizing the voice, I kept walking. He didn't take the hint. "Hey! I thought you were gonna wait for me out front. I never said that, human. Come on, just wait a second and I'll let you get on your way." _Persistent human. _I stopped reluctantly, figuring he would really follow me all the way to the Institute unless I stopped. "See? Was that so hard? I wanted to continue our discussion in the cafeteria." Then I picked up four familiar scents. _Maybe this will convince him it's unhealthy to hang around me. _"So anyway-" Before he could finish a silver blur sped up and pushed him into an alley. I just watched. The rest of the Brotherhood stepped up behind Pietro. "I believe we owe you a beating, X-Geek." _This looks like it'll be a whole lot of fun. _"Believe me, I really want to beat the shit out of you, but Xavier forbade me unless it's self defense. If you want to get out of here unharmed, this is your chance. If not, throw a punch. I'm not allowed to kill you, unfortunately, so hopefully this will be a learning experience for all of you." They all looked amused at my nerve. "You think you can take us? You're crazier than that professor." I dropped my backpack on the ground and watched them. _Please attack me. I'm getting bored. _Lance clenched his hands and his eyes rolled up in his head. Everything began shaking. _Not a direct attack, but good enough. _I leapt forward and delivered a bone crunching kick to his ribcage. The others expressions of shock barely registered as I moved to Toad. He spat a glob of mucus at me, which I ducked. I came back up with an uppercut that, thanks to my metal laced fist, knocked him out cold. I turned to the other two and smiled. _Come on. Attack me. This is fun. _Blob didn't disappoint. He ripped a chunk of rock out of the wall and threw it at me. I brought my fist up at the split-second before the chunk of rock would have hit me and unsheathed my claws. I retracted them within a half-second, so fast they just looked like a trick of the light. The rock hit the wall behind us in three pieces. Blob roared then charged me. I dodged to the side and punched him in the back. He turned and laughed. _No effect. _I dodged his retaliatory swipe and backflipped, kicking him in the head halfway through. _Too easy. _Pietro sped towards me. I tried to sweep his legs out from under him but he was too fast. He jumped and punched me in the jaw. The familiar sound of bones breaking was the result. He barely knocked my head back so I got to see him jump back and cradle his broken wrist. I didn't waste any time jumping forward and roundhouse kicking him in the chest. He flew back a good five feet and hit the wall. He slid to the ground moaning and didn't get back up. _Two unconscious, two injured. _I walked up to Lance, who was lying on the ground groaning and holding his broken ribs. He looked up at me in fear. "Hey, come on man, we were just kidding around. No need to do anything else right?" I leaned down. "That was fun. Too bad I can't kill you." I got back up and walked back to my backpack. Mark looked like he was in shock. Without waiting for him to begin speaking I grabbed my backpack and ran out of the alley. I kept running even though Mark was calling my name. _He is still in shock. I hate dealing with people when they can't think properly. But then again I just hate dealing with people period. _

I arrived at the mansion a few minutes earlier due to my running most of the way. I could hear five heartbeats on the other side of the door. _Scott waiting to ambush me again. I think I'll find another entrance. _I crept over to the side of the mansion and began climbing. I got to the top in just under ten minutes and listened at the top of the attic. _One heartbeat. It's either this or Scott. _On that note, I dropped through the opening. I adjusted my landing to make the least possible noise. I appeared to be in some sort of greenhouse, filled with all types of plants and one mutant. Storm was watering one of the plants and hadn't noticed me due to my quiet entrance. I turned to the main part of the mansion and began creeping towards the door. Due to a stroke of luck, she didn't turn around. There were no places to hide in the greenhouse, so my presence would have raised awkward questions had she turned. I set off for Xavier's office and wondered if he would tell the others or let them find out on their own.

A/N: I decided both the codenames I had been thinking of last time were terrible so I'm going to stick to a simple one; predator. This story is almost over with only one or two chapters left. I haven't decided whether to add the next story as a separate one or just keep it as a part of this. And that's pretty much it for this chapter's author notes. Pretty short this time. It feels weird.


	17. I'll Be Back

The next day, lunch.

I didn't want to spend my lunch break answering questions from Mark so I went straight to the field outside. I heard a group of people follow me. _They recruited Laura. There goes my chance it escaping. _Sure enough, as I was walking to the bleachers near the football field I looked over my shoulder and saw Scott, Kurt, Laura, Rogue, and Mark following. Resisting the urge to begin sprinting from the school, I walked to the bleachers, sat down, and watched the human students play football. I didn't respond as they sat near me. "Mark says you have something to tell us." Scott prompted. I remained silent. Scott sighed. "I'm not mad at you for fighting them. It was self-defense. I'm just disappointed that you didn't trust us enough to talk about it." I continued to remain silent. "Look, ve have come out here to tell you zhat ve vant to get to know you." Kurt said impatiently. "We're a team. If you can't walk, we'll carry you." Scott added. _Idealistic fools. _"Sounds nice. But that isn't for me. The day I can't walk on my own is the day I die." They didn't look surprised by my statement. "I didn't think I could stay either." _Rogue. Of course. _"I was wrong. They can help you if you give them the chance." _That's the problem though. I don't trust anyone. Relying on others only results in betrayal. _"I've always been alone. I always will be. What about your katana?" My mind went blank. _What about my katana? _"I thought it belonged to someone who you cared about. That's why you keep it right?" I just stared at Scott for a second and then started laughing. Slowly at first but soon I couldn't breathe. They were staring at me as if worried about my sanity. I spoke between laughs. "You think the person who I took that from was _kind _to me?" _The thought... of him being kind. That's hilarious. _My laughter grew louder. I had to take a few deep breaths before I could speak. "The mutant I took that from was my _handler. _His favorite tool to punish me was that katana. So I took it from him and used it to kill him. Slowly." Everyone but Laura looked horrified. "Zen vhy in Gott's name do you keep it?" Kurt demanded after the initial shock was over. "As a reminder. A reminder of what?" Mark had turned slightly green after my explanation and now looked disgusted. "That's sick Victor. Maybe. I keep it as a reminder that I can't trust anyone." _The one time I did he turned around and stabbed me in the back. Figuratively and literally. _Scott looked like he had no idea how to handle the situation. No one else spoke. After a minute of silence I stood up and walked away.

_So repetitive. How do they live like this? _I was quickly becoming tired of this lifestyle. School was mind-numbingly easy and the DR sessions were a breeze. The only interesting facets were facing Laura in hand-to-hand combat and the fight with the Brotherhood. _So much time is wasted. _I was forbidden from leaving my room from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. Seeing as I only slept two hours I usually spent the other six staring at the wall. My not being able to sleep had begun to catch up to me. Even with my healing factor requiring much less sleep than the average human my current amount was insufficient. I could feel my senses dulling and my reflexes slowing every day. But there was nothing I could do about it. Of course even the time I was allowed out of my room wasn't particularly exciting. I spent the majority of it in the Danger Room making custom training sessions. To my surprise I had found Logan's own training programs as very challenging. Unfortunately my time in the Danger Room had been limited after I had depleted its supply of drones. Logan had come down to the training session the next day and had not been happy to discover the session he had planned could not be done because of the lack of resources. Xavier had been informed and so I was limited to two hours in the DR per day. Since I had nothing left to do with most of my time I had taken to wandering the city or the mansion grounds. I was currently on my twenty-second lap of the grounds. It was quite funny how the younger students immediately turned and began walking away when they noticed me. I was currently running through the trees on the grounds and I heard the leaves rustling. It was a testament to how tired I was that I hadn't noticed whatever it was until now. I turned suddenly and saw Laura sitting on one of the trees and watching me. _Her stealth training is very good. Possibly a match for mine. _She jumped down and walked up to me. "I was curious. Why do you speak differently than me?" I had been expecting the question for a long time and was surprised that none of them had asked until now. "Xavier's false memories. They gave me a large amount of experience in how to speak and act." She nodded. She didn't say anything else so I turned and continued walking. She followed. We walked for a good twenty minutes before she spoke again. "How did you escape from HYDRA?" _They finally asked. Well, I knew they wouldn't keep silent forever. _"By killing them all." She grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. "You could not have escaped without a significant advantage. I had an ally. What advantage did you have? None." Her eyes flashed at my lie. _They can never know how I escaped. It would only make things more difficult. For me and them._ "I cannot permit you to keep a secret that may threaten the lives of the people here. You will tell me or I will be forced to inform Xavier. Go ahead." With that blunt statement I brushed her arm off and kept walking. _This will only make them more curious. If they get too curious I may have to leave. _Then I heard them. Moving through the forest. I climbed the nearest tree and and listened. "No contact. Mansion perimeter secured. Begin operation." I waited and two soldiers crept along below me. _SHIELD. Sorry Xavier. _I dropped down and decapitated each soldier before they even knew what was happening. I picked up one of their rifles. I clicked the safety off and made sure a round was chambered. Then I turned and sprinted for the Institute. _First I need to retrieve my katana. Then I need to leave._

_"Logan, Colonel Fury is coming. Please meet him outside." This can't be good. They're probably after the kid. _I stood up from my seat in the rec room and downed the rest of the beer. I dropped it in the trash and made my way outside. The sight that greeted me was shocking to say the least. _He got half the damn army to come for him. _Four Apache helicopters were hovering over the Institute with two Abrams tanks rolling onto the grounds. Six APC's were unloading squads of troops. Fury got out of one of the APC's and began walking towards me immediately. "Get the hell out of here Fury." I growled as soon as he was in earshot. "We've come for the boy, Logan. We know he's here. You can't have him. He's under our protection." Fury was shaking his head. "That won't cut it this time. We let you keep the girl but this one is too dangerous. If you don't cooperate we'll take all of you in too." I chuckled. Fury looked at me like I was insane. "I'm not trying to protect him from you Fury, I'm trying to protect you from him."

_Good. It's here. _They hadn't taken my katana yet. I grabbed it and crept back into the hallway. Despite it being 11 at night the entire Institute was awake. Maybe because of the tanks outside. I began walking slowly towards the professor office, listening for the sounds of specialized equipment rattling or a helmet radio in use. I got through two hallways without incident before hearing the first pair of troops. "FREEZE!" _Who...?_ I looked around the corner to see two troopers holding a group of Institute students at gunpoint with a third watching their backs. "Follow us outside. If you cooperate you will not be harmed." _And now I have to rescue them. _I brought up the assault rifle and moved around the corner in one fluid motion. The trooper on watch didn't even have time to pull the trigger as a bullet punched through his helmet. His allies met the same fate as they turned around. I continued walking and stopped when one of the students spoke. "Where do you want us?" _Brave but foolish. _"I don't want you anywhere." Another student spoke and I recognized Jamie's voice. "You need our help. No, I don't. The last thing I need is one of you idiots getting in my way." That stopped their protests. I glanced at the shoulder of one of the bodies. _Delta Force. Shit. They're going all out. _ I took the least damaged helmet from one of the soldiers and ripped the radio out. I place the radio in the pocket of my jeans. With my enhanced hearing I would hear everything that was said. The radio crackled. "Charlie team, report." I didn't say anything. A second later a different voice came on. "X-29. You're a clever boy. But we will catch you." _Their commander is smart. _I removed the radio from my pocket and dropped it on the floor. I heard movement in the distance. I entered the front room of the mansion to see three troopers escorting a group of mutants outside. I dropped the rifle, stepped back and took a running jump off the balcony. I extended my claws and rammed them into two of the soldiers' necks. The third brought his rifle up and was about to fire when I spun and kicked it out of his hands. He drew his sidearm in one smooth motion and he fired twice. The first bullet grazed my neck. The second blew a hole the size of a golf ball in my left shoulder. I couldn't move it. _Adamantium bullets? _I ducked the third bullet and swept his feet. He landed and attempted to roll away. My claws in his frontal lobe stopped him._ Fuck, that hurts. _I could feel my healing factor dragging the adamantium on my skeleton back into place. It felt like someone had poured acid into the socket. As soon as I could move my left arm again I picked up his sidearm and checked the bullets. _Eight left._ Then I turned to the mutants. Alyssa and Amy were staring at me in shock. Kitty and Rogue looked sick. _What did they expect? Did they not believe the professor when he told them I was a killer? _I began walking towards the exit. "What are you gonna do?" I stopped in confusion. _Am I hallucinating? I thought she hated me. _"I'm going to get out of here." Amy didn't look happy with my answer. "Yer our friend. We'll help you." I looked sharply at Rogue. "No." Alyssa looked serious. "Don't let em get you. If you do I'll never forgive you." I nodded and began walking towards the side of the mansion I hadn't cleared.

I didn't encounter any more mutants. I found four more soldiers that I made quick work of. When I got to the end of the wing I unsheathed a claw and began cutting a hole in the window silently. I slipped through the hole and was nearly blinded by the search light that landed on me. _An Apache. Damn. _I began running for the trees. _"Wait." Xavier. _The helicopter pilot suddenly blinked and shook his head. Then he continued searching. The search light passed over me but he didn't seem to see me. _Clever trick, Xavier. _I couldn't hear over the choppers blades so I focused on finding his scent. _Waiting in the forest? Seems pointless if he can make them forget they ever saw him. _I was creeping through the bushes now. _Xavier may have helped me but I don't trust him. _I checked to make certain Xavier and... Scott were the only two in clearing. As soon as I was certain it wasn't a trap I emerged. "You don't need to leave." Scott said without hesitation. "We can make them think you were never here." _Why would they go to such lengths for me? There is no advantage or gain. It's completely illogical. _"No. I can't trust you with my life. I'm leaving." Then a thought struck me. _I can't trust them with my life... but I do trust them. At least a little. I don't know if that's a mistake... but I have the feeling I'll find out. One way or another._ I unhooked the katana from my back. "All of you were right. I don't need this. Keep it. I'll get it when I come back." Scott took it from me with a knowing smirk. I turned away from them and began running. After I couldn't hear the Apaches anymore I slowed and began walking. _I need to get stronger. Strong enough that SHIELD won't dare try to capture me. I need to find out how I accessed that ability. How to use it at will. If I can do that, SHIELD won't stand a chance. And the probable way to find out... is to revisit HYDRA. If this pays off, I won't need to rely on anyone ever again. If it does not... then I don't know what I'll do. _

A/N: And so it comes to an end. I'm going to begin uploading the second story soon, but I didn't prewrite most of it like this one so the updates will probably be slower. If you liked this story then review and let me know what you enjoyed. Personally, I thought some of my writing was lackluster and some of the action felt as if I was telling you what happened instead of showing you. But it's always hard to criticize your own work so I'm not sure. Oh, and I realized that the entire neurotoxin blood seemed to be completely out of left field and kind of felt like I was just giving him extra powers. Let me reassure those who care that I had intended him to have that ability from the start and it will play a much more important role in the sequel. I try not to give my characters powers whenever I feel like it because I think that makes for bad writing. But I'm not sure how well my story was received or how you all felt because I haven't had any reviews since the... sixth chapter I believe. So please, review. You'll be helping me improve my writing and if you don't review this sad face will make you feel guilty :(


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